The son of the Huntress III: Broken vows
by Just Somedude 1
Summary: Raven Alistair, Eli Alistair, and Antonio Gilardoni. Three heroes, one prophecy. When Eli and Reyna discover Kronos's involvement in the prophecy, a deeper meaning of the oath against he and Raven's births are revealed. After the two brothers discover there was another section of the prophecy hidden from them, they become unsure of their abilities to save the age of Olympus.
1. Chapter 1: A new demigod

**Hey what is up guys it's good to be back for this. The son of the Huntress III: Broken vows. I kicked an angle for this around for a bit and I finally got it. But I am pretty pissed cuz I had like half the chapter written down and then I went to save it and it logged me out and saved none of the shit that I did. So that kind of pissed me off but anyways, I'm good, everything is up. Welcome to the third instalment in The son of the Huntress series. Please read and review and help me to see what you guys would want to see, and without any further ado here we go. And I had to delete the original copy because something was going wrong with it so if ya'll was confused when it disappeared for a bit, that's what happened.**

Chapter 1: A new demigod

Raven:

"You're sure this is where Grover said he is?" I asked my mother as we walked through the hallway

"Yes, and he said that he smelled like fire." She said

Let me explain what's happening. About a week ago (week ago) a seeker named Grover Underwood found a demigod in the projects of Memphis, Tennessee. The hunt was near his location, and when he said "He smells like fire" my mother thought only one thing. The son of fire. So here we are now, posing as students at the South Memphis public high school. A few tricks of the mist and now everybody thought we had been going here for years.

"I don't like the way these guys are staring at you." I muttered

"You insisted I look like a sixteen year old for this." She muttered back

"It was your idea, I'm just here to be logical." I said

She rolled her eyes. I'm sure a year and a half ago my mother wouldn't have done something like this. But this was deathly important and needed to happen quickly before the monsters caught his scent.

"What do we do?" Mom asked

"What do you mean?" I asked her

"You've been to school," She said "Where do we go? What do we do?"

"Biology," I said consulting the piece of paper I had been given "Room seventeen."

"Where's that at?" She asked

"Numbers momma," I said indicating to the number fifteen on the door next to us "Use the numbers."

We made our way down the hallway and entered room seventeen. We scanned the room together but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. A window was open on the far end, good escape route if needed. Most of the students were either on their phones or talking to eachother.

"There." My mother said indicating to a desk at the very back of the room

I saw a skinny teenager sitting alone at a three person desk. He was wearing a solid black hoodie and a pair of purple basketball shorts. He was tall and skinny, with longish, dark brown hair. I suddenly noticed one thing that stood out the most. Golden eyes. As unique as my silver eyes, but I was willing to bet he didn't have a twin. We approached the back of the room and came up in front of him.

"Seat taken?" I asked him

"This one is," He said, indicating to the chair on his left, then the one on his right "This one isn't."

"Go sit there," I whispered to my mother, nodding to a table with two girls seated at it "We can bail quickly if we have to."

She nodded and moved towards the table. I sat down on the kid's right glanced up to make sure my mother was alright.

"What's your name?" The kid asked "I don't think I've seen you before."

First sign that this kid was a demigod, he had seen right through the mist. Everybody else would think we had been here for years, but he had seen right through us.

"Raven Alistair," I said "So-what about you?"

I had almost slipped up. I had become so used to introducing myself as a son of Artemis, that I had almost said that. He probably would've thought I was just dead crazy.

"Antonio Gilardoni." He said

"Where you find a name like that?" I asked him

"Italian I think," He shrugged "Where'd you find a name like Raven?"

"No idea." I shrugged

A kid walked over and sat down on Antonio's other side. He was wearing thick glasses, an old MIT shirt tucked into a pair of jeans. I'm talking straight stereotypical nerd.

"That's Jerry," Antonio whispered to me "Don't make loud noises during class with him around."

I glanced back up at my mother who was glaring at me. She was stuck in between to preppy girls who were talking very excitedly and rapidly. Oh well, at least it was girls and not those despicable males.

"Good morning class!" A man called, entering the room "I hope you all have your papers."

My mother tossed me a paper which landed on my desk. I picked up the paper and examined it. It was a three page essay titles 'Bonds of matter'. I sat it down and glanced over at the teacher who was walking through the rows collecting papers and greeting the students.

"No paper?" I asked Antonio

"Fuck it dude," He said "Science is stupid."

"And that's why you'll never pass high school." Jerry said smugly

"I wouldn't talk too big, dodgeball in gym today." Antonio spat

"You just resort to violence because you're too stupid to use your own brain." Jerry retorted

"Fuck off." Antonio muttered

"Good morning Mr. Alistair," He said reaching our table "What do you have for me today?"

"What's it look like?" I asked, handing him the paper

"Ahhh bonds of matter," He said "Impressive, very hard topic to discuss."

"I'll take your word for it." I muttered

"And Mr. Gordon," He said "No paper again today?"

"It's Gilardoni," Antonio corrected him "And no Mr. Garrett I don't have a paper."

"And why would that be?" Mr. Garrett asked

"Because I don't have one." Antonio said

"You need to shape up Antonio," He said "You won't pass your Sophomore year the way you're going."

Antonio rolled his eyes as Mr. Garrett collected Jerry's paper and moved back up to the front of the room. I glanced back at my mother who was busy trying to not kill the two girls on either side of her. I hoped she could hold out for the next forty five minutes. My mother was all about females, but female instinct hates all other females. It's a vicious circle. I'm not gonna tell you every detail about that science class but I seriously almost just left about thirty times. That teacher is so so so boring. I remember being in school back in Brooklyn, and the teachers were all only there for the check. They didn't care about our futures and neither did we. Most of us knew that our futures were with whatever gangs we were in. But so let's just fast forward to the end of class.

"Mr. Alistair, a word please?" Mr. Garrett requested as I attempted to leave

Antonio raised his eyebrows at me and stood by the doorway waiting for me. My mother stood next to him, wondering how the two of us had become friends that fast. I approached Garrett's desk and he gave me a small smile.

"I was very impressed with your essay," He said "But I'm worried."

"About?" I asked him

"Sitting next to Antonio, I feel like he may be distracting you." He said

"Well I'm trying to help him," I lied "I know what it's like for him. It's not that he doesn't care, he doesn't understand it so he gave up."

"Well that's very nice of you but I think you should focus on yourself and not Antonio." He said

"Well if I'm doing perfectly fine then why can't I help Antonio while I'm at it?" I asked

He seemed to think about this for a moment. I was totally lying out my ass and had no idea what I was actually saying. Finally he smiled at me.

"Mr. Alistair, would you mind me putting you in for student of the week?" He asked

"What?" I asked him, not following

"Student of the week," He said slowly "You'll be recognized for going above and beyond your call as a student."

"Uhhh okay sure." I said confused

"Great, and I'll write you a pass," He said "Who do you have next?"

"Gym." I said, glancing down at my paper

He scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to me. I turned around and walked over to where Antonio and Mom were standing.

"What was that about?" Antonio asked me

"I lied about a bunch of bullsht and he's recomedning me for student of the month." I said

"Teacher's pet." He joked

"Fuck you." I said, shoving him back

We laughed and then I noticed my mother was eyeing us like we could be a dangerous comination.

"Oh ummm, this is Antonio Gilardoni," I said "And this is my, uhhh sister Artemis."

"Artemis Alistair?" He asked, amused

"Luna actually, we had different fathers." She said

"Hey you got an extra pair of gym shorts?" I asked as we started walking "I don't have any."

"Fuck it bro, I got you." Antonio said

I figured my mother would just change her appearance and be all suited up for gym. I, on the other hand, had no such power and probably wouldn't be welcome to participate in gym class in jeans and a wifebeater.

"Dodgeball today though," Antonio said "I'm gunning straight for Jerry."

"What's your problem with him anyways?" I asked as we entered the gym

"You saw how he talked to me didn't you?" Antonio asked me "Wouldn't you have some beef too?"

"True." I shrugged as we entered the locker room

I watched my mother slip into the girl's locker room and disappear behind the door. I knew she could handle herself and she's lay a girl out if needed, so I wasn't worried. Antonio threw me a pair of white basketball shorts with a black stripe down the middle and I put them on. He let me throw my jeans into his locker and we walked back into the gym. Nobody was out yet so we took a seat on the bleachers and waited.

"So what's your story?" I asked him

"My dad and I live on the south side of the projects," He said "Mom died when I was young, never knew her. Dad always talks about her though, how she was so beautiful she'd move mountains for her. How I remind him of her so much."

 _If it's his dad_ , I thought _That means he can't be a child of Hephaestus. But who does that leave?_

"Raven," My mother said from behind me "I need to talk to you."

I shrugged and rose from my seat, walking towards the other end of the gym. When we got to the back she turned to face me, looking slightly annoyed.

"We need to figure this out quickly," She said "Is he the demigod or not?"

"Yeah, definitely a demigod," I said "But his Olympian parents is his mother."

"So Hephaestus is out," She said thoughtfully "But who else could that leave?"

Before I could answer, someone blew a whistle.

"LINE IT UP LADIES!" A massive woman hollered

I'm serious when I say massive. She was taller than I was, and like, two hundred pounds heavier than me. Solid freaking muscle.

"Oh my gods," I said as we made our way back to the court "Do you see this chick? She's like, on steroids."

My mother said nothing as we took our spots in lines. Antonio flashed me a grin as the gym teacher started calling out teams and pushing us to opposite sides of the gym.

"Alistair, Gilardoni." She said pointing to one side

Antonio and I moved to one side of the gym as she pointed my mother to the other side. This teacher was moving us fast. Almost like she was actually eager to get us into the process of killing eachother. She grabbed a bucket of red rubber balls and dumped it out onto the floor.

"I don't want to see any holding back!" She called "It took me forever to get the school to let you guys play dodgeball so you might as well _play_ the game!"

And with that, she blew her whistle. Antonio sprinted forward and grabbed two balls, throwing one behind him for me to catch. I grabbed it out of the air and ducked as a ball came flying through the air. Antonio dropped back next to me and leaned over.

"See Jerry?" He asked me "Go for him!"

I scanned the other team and immediately picked him out of the crowd. He was nearly trembling trying to not get hit as balls flew from one end to the other. Antonio and I moved forward at the same time, and let both of our balls go. I almost felt bad for the kid. Almost, he was kind of a dick. Antonio's struck him right in the stomach, causing him to double over putting his face right in the path of mine.

"That's it Alistair!" The gym teacher yelled "Play it rough!"

"Mrs. Davis likes you!" Antonio yelled

The guy behind me took a ball straight to the back of the head as he turned to pick up a ball. I followed the path and saw my mother catching a ball and throwing it at me in the same motion. For somebody who had never been to public school or spent much time anywhere besides with the hunt. she sure was vicious at dodgeball.

"Holy shit she's got a cannon!" Somebody yelled, right before taking a ball to the face

The game was getting violent fast. I caught a ball and threw it at my mother, who did a backflip to avoid it. I looked up and realized it was Antonio and I against my mother and three other guys. I moved behind Antonio while he caught the ball one of the kids threw at me. He threw it back and almost his my mother in the side, but she spun quickly. I snatched another ball off the ground and whipped it as hard as I could, taking one of the guys out at the knee. Antonio rushed forward and threw his at the other guy, then got taken out by my mother.

"Alistair!" Mrs. Davis yelled "Twenty push ups if you lose to a girl!"

I ducked as my mother threw another ball that narrowly missed my face. I threw one at her feet but she jumped it. We went back and forth for a few minutes, Huntress vs Son of Huntress. It really was fun. I remembered the time I played Eli in one on one basketball. I won by one point. I threw another ball but she jumped to the side and whipped one at my feet. I jumped to avoid it but as I came down, I looked up just in time to see a red ball flying straight for me, just before it struck my face. Mrs. Davis blew the whistle again.

"Alistair! Twenty push ups! Go!" Mrs. Davis screamed

What else could I do. I dropped and started doing push ups. Any other circumstance I would've had some smart ass retort that got me kicked out, but I needed to get in and out without suspicion. At about fifteen, Mrs. Davis stuck her foot on my back and started pressing down. I managed to push to nineteen and barely made the twenty.

"Everybody get dressed!" She yelled

I staggered off to the locker room in a sweat. I met Antonio about ten feet from the door.

"That was awesome!" He said

"We lost." I reminded him

"Yeah but look at Jerry." He said nodding

I looked over towards the bleachers where Jerry was laying on one of the benches holding a bloody rag to his nose.

"Teach you to run that mouth boy!" Antonio yelled at him

We walked into the locker room still laughing.

"Nice throw." Antonio said

"Shit man, I wasn't even trying." I laughed, pulling on my jeans

We left the locker room and walked back out into the gym where my mother was waiting for us. She smiled sheepishly as I drew near.

"Sorry," She said "You're not hurt are you?"

"I'm fine," I told her "Ego is bruised, but other than that I'm good."

"Hey, let's get out of here," Antonio said "Lunch time fool."

"Sweet, I'm starving." I laughed

But that's about the time when things just went to Hades.

Eli:

"DROP!" Justin yelled

We all yelled as we hit the mud hard. It was pouring rain and Justin decided it was a good time to drill us. So we were all wearing our armor and out doing random military exercises in the rain.

"ONE!" Justin counted the push ups "TWO! THREE! FOUR! FIVE! SIX! SEVEN! EIGHT! NINE! TEN! EVERYBODY UP!"

We shot up, rain and mud dripping off of our armor. I spit into the mud as Justin paced around us. We were locked into a tight formation. It was hard for me to get used to taking orders, but I adjusted.

"PHALANX!" Justin yelled

We readjusted ourselves into a Phalanx formation and stood at attention. Justin paced back around and did something that we all expected but still never got used to.

"HANNIBAL!" He called

Thunderous footsteps were heard as the elephant appeared almost out of nowhere and charged us. Whenever Justin did this, our goal was to subdue the elephant as quickly as possible. We scattered and surrounded him quickly. After what I had pulled with Ladon, an elephant wasn't a problem. I ran at his back and jumped as high as I can, attempting to grab onto his tail and pull myself up, but he moved sideways and I tumbled to the ground. Hannibal swung his trunk out and sent two other Romans flying off to the side. Justin stood off to the side and watched as we struggled against the elephant.

"YOU'RE A DISGRACE TO THE TWELFTH LEGION!" He yelled at us "YOU CAN'T EVEN TAKE OVER A FRIENDLY ELEPHANT!"

I have to say, normally Justin was a pretty laid back and easy going guy but he could turn into the drill sergeant type real quick.

"ELI COME ON!" He screamed at me, barely a foot away "I SEEN YOU SUBDUE A DRAGON! GET YOUR ASS ON THAT ELEPHANT!"

I pushed myself up and took another run. I dodged his trunk and ended up under him with three other Romans. I didn't know everybody's name yet but I did recognize one kid who had introduced himself to me as Jordan. He was a four foot two black kid with about seven more feet of attitude. This kid could snap quick, and he could fight. He was the only one in the entire second cohort who had come close to actually beating me in a fight.

"Eli," One of kid yelled "Jump for the exposed part of his vest, grab onto it and swing Jordan up. We'll distract him."

I nodded. Two of them bolted out from under the elephant to get his attention while Jordan and I came out the side. I scanned the side for the opening in the vest and I saw what he meant. Someone hadn't strapped the vest onto him right and there was a piece of it dangling down. I backed up and took a running jump, grabbing onto the kevlar strap as I fell. Hannibal swung himself around and I stuck my hand out to Jordan who grabbed it and got pulled up with me.

"GO!" I yelled to him

He scrambled up, using my shoulders as a support. He kicked off my shoulders onto the elephant's back and I let go of the strap and fell to the ground. Hannibal thundered past me and I slammed into the mud. The wind got knocked clean out of me and I rolled over coughing and gasping for air. When I looked back over, Hannibal had calmed down and Jordan was sitting victorious on top, the rest of the second cohort gathered around him.

"Well, not bad." A voice said from behind

I pushed myself up and turned around. Reyna was standing behind me with one of her extremely rare smiles.

"Yeah well, talk to your head centurion over there," I said indicating to Justin "Nigga turns into Major Payne."

Reyna rolled her eyes and waved Justin over. He dismissed the second cohort back to the barracks and approached the two of us. He raised his eyes when I didn't leave with the others but said nothing.

"Yes Reyna?" He asked her

"Eli and I need to talk, and we will be leaving the camp," She said "Only Praetor Zhang, you, me, and Eli know. Nobody else is to find out where we're going."

"Understood," Justin said "Any idea when you'll be back."

"Not much longer than an hour or two." Reyna said

"Right," Justin said "I'll make sure nobody else knows."

Reyna nodded and Justin hurried off after the second cohort. I stood for a moment before Reyna spoke again.

"Your brother Iris messaged me this morning," She said as she began walking "They found a demigod, and the seeker said he smelled like fire."

"The son of fire," I said, following her "What is Raven doing?"

"He's going to collect him," She said "Your mother went with him. They're posing as students in the school for the day until they can make a move."

"My mother in high school?" I asked her

"My thoughts exactly," She said "But Raven said it'll be in and out."

We rounded the corner towards where Ladon was being held. Reyna had been reluctant to not cage him, but I promised he wouldn't attack us. So far I had been right and nobody had been eaten by him. As we entered the stables I looked over at Ladon's stable. It was opened at the top so that he could come and go as he pleased, but he would always come when I called. The one thing I wanted to figure out is how they got Ladon out of the garden of the Hesperides. Supposedly he hadn't ever left his post at that tree, or so they said. Clearly he could, and clearly he had. I still couldn't figure out how I had controlled him. I guess it was my mother being the goddess of nature I had a way with animals. I had just started talking to him and then he eventually calmed down.

"Up for a little flight?" I asked him as Reyna and I drew nearer to him

He looked up and gave a small huff at me. I reached out and rubbed his snout, causing him to make a little grumble noise. He was kind of affectionate when he wasn't trying to kill you.

"You ready to go back home?" I asked him "Or at least, near there?"

He looked at me and gave a small whine.

"I'm not gonna leave you there," I said throwing his saddle onto him "We're just going to investigate."

Reyna stood back and watched me do the straps to the dragon's saddle. Ladon stood and stretched when I finally did the last strap, then I turned to Reyna.

"Ready?" I asked her

"I'm really not sure about the dragon." She said hesitantly

"Relax, he's kind of harmless." I told her

"Kind of?" She asked

"Well I've noticed that he picks up on my emotions," I told her "If I'm upset with you he may get threatening."

"Right so just keep you happy and I live." Reyna said

I laughed and hopped onto Ladon's back, offering my hand to Reyna. She grabbed my hand and I pulled her onto his back with me. She held onto my waist as I gave Ladon's side a small kick and he shot into the air. I felt Reyna's arms tighten and I laughed.

"THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" She yelled over the wind

"I THINK IT IS!" I yelled back "I'VE SEEN YOU FACE DOWN ARMIES OF MONSTERS AND YOU'RE SCARED OF HEIGHTS!"

"I'M NOT SCARED OF HEIGHTS!" She responded "I JUST HATE FAST MOVEMENT LIKE THIS!"

I rolled my eyes and steered Ladon towards Mount Othrys. It wasn't too far out but I still felt safer taking Ladon. I glanced back and saw Reyna with her eyes closed tight, forcing herself not to look around. Not scared of heights my ass. I don't know if Bellona had some sort of beef with a sky spirit, but Reyna looked like she absolutely hated where she was at. As we approached San Francisco I had a thought. And wonderful thought. And awful thought. I had a wonderful awful thought. I steered Ladon to the side a bit and then dropped him suddenly. He shot towards the ground and Reyna's eyes shot open, and she was screaming at the top of her lungs. I pulled Ladon out of the dive and landed him in the park where Mount Tam was located. I looked back at Reyna's horrified and shocked face as I dismounted, and I couldn't help it, I started laughing.

"I HATE YOU THAT WAS HORRIBLE!" She yelled "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?"

"That was funny!" I choked out through the laughter

"NO IT WASN'T!" Reyna shrieked, sliding off of Ladon's back

She took a minute to regain her composure before glaring at me. If looks could kill, shit I'd be dead as fuck.

"If you ever do that again, I swear you'll regret the day you were born," She threatened me "And if you ever tell anybody about it, I'll throw you into the fields of punishment."

I was able to keep a straight face for a moment before I busted out laughing. I doubled over and Reyna glared at me again. Ladon made a small sound in his throat that sounded like a chuckle, and Reyna turned on him.

"You too?" She demanded

Ladon lowered his head in shame and refused to look Reyna in the eye. She turned back to me and gestured towards the mountain.

"Do you intend to investigate with me?" She asked, still breathing hard

"Yeah I'm good," I said, still slightly laughing "Let's go."

Reyna drew her sword and advanced slowly. I pulled my bow and motioned for Ladon to follow us quietly, which he did without hesitation. Reyna and I walked slowly into the fog at the base of the mountain, moving as quietly as possible.

"So where is the garden?" I asked her "And how do they keep mortals out?"

"We're demigods," She said "We'll get through the barrier, anybody else would just pass through it."

It made sense to me. After all, I'd seen weirder things. I did a quick sweep and saw nothing out of the ordinary. If you can consider two armed teenagers and a dragon normal, but since it's me judging it then yes, it's normal. After a few moments I began to smell something weird. I couldn't quite place exactly what it was but I had smelled it before, I just couldn't figure out where. Reyna stopped suddenly and held out her arm to stop me. I glanced behind as Ladon stopped with he head above Reyna and I. He lowered his head next to my shoulder and made a small noise. I reached up and rubbed the side of his face, which seemed to calm him down.

"The garden." Reyna said

We moved a little bit slower and the fog started to clear. I still couldn't see very well, but I knew that Ladon wasn't very happy to be back here. I don't know how the monsters got him to leave, or why the Hesperides would've let him leave, but here he was. The fog thinned out a bit more until I could see the garden. I glanced around and immediately noticed something was wrong. There was a tree with a pair of steps going around either side, but the tree was halfway gone, and burned up. Ladon whimpered at the sight of his tree, and I glanced back at him.

"Who goes there?" Came a voice from the shadow

Ladon drew back, Reyna raised her sword, and I drew an arrow back and pointed it in the direction the voice had come from. Four girls stepped from the fog. They were all identical, wearing white dresses, gold braids in their hair, and regal features.

"Lower thy weapons Romans." One said

"Give me one good reason why." I said, adjusting my aim onto her

"Because I will ask it of thee." Said another voice, this time from behind me

I turned quickly and trained my bow on another girl. She looked exactly like the other girls, except she wore the uniform of a hunter of Artemis, and the silver circlet of the lieutenant of Artemis. She walked with such grace I fought the urge to sink to my knees and call her your majesty.

"And you are?" I asked her

"My name is Zoe Nightshade," She said "Former lieutenant of the Lady Artemis."

"Former?" I asked "Broken vow?"

"No," She said "I was slain in battle. Please lower your weapons."

I glanced back at the other four girls who were making their way around us to stand beside Zoe. I lowered my bow and Reyna lowered her sword. Zoe shifted her gaze behind me and smiled at Ladon.

"I see ye hath found a new master." She said to him

Ladon lowered himself almost protectively above Reyna and I. The other four girls, who I at this point had figured out were the Hesperides, glared at me, clearly angry at me for taking their dragon.

"Tell me, how did ye come by our dragon Eli?" Zoe asked conversationally

"How do you know my name?" I asked her

"Ye don't think Lady Artemis and I still speak on occasion?" She asked "I know all about thee, and thy brother."

"He's evading thy question," One of the Hesperides said angrily "How did ye come by our dragon?"

I told them the story of how Ladon had arrived with the enemy army and I had been able to calm him down enough to take control. Best I could figure he might have been under some sort of spell but I doubt it. When I finished, only Zoe didn't look surprised. In fact, she looked as if she'd already heard it, she just wanted clarification.

"So since I told you how I got your dragon," I ventured "Would you like to tell me why he left?"

"Monsters came, Ladon destroyed a lot of them but they destroyed the tree," One of the Hesperides explained "When the tree was destroyed Ladon flew into a rage. They somehow managed to get him all the way to Camp Half-Blood and set him loose on ye."

"Where were you guys?" Reyna asked, speaking for the first time since we had arrived

"We could not stop them," Another Hesperides protested "We are not warriors."

"Tis not important." Zoe interrupted "What is important is the answers ye seek."

"You know what Kronos is up to?" I asked her

"I know not of Kronos's involvement in this matter," She said "But I can show ye where to find the answer."

"Zoe," a Hesperide protested "Tis dangerous. They will be slain."

"Maybe," Zoe said "Maybe not."

"We can handle whatever is on Mount Othrys," Reyna assured her "Just get us there."

"Ye are confident in this matter," Zoe said "But thou hath no idea what lies ahead."

"We can handle it." I said, my hand blazing with silver light

Zoe raised her eyebrows, clearly impressed. The four Hesperides just looked at me like I might attack them. Zoe shrugged and motioned for us to follow her but before we could moved, the Hesperides stopped us.

"First," One said "Ladon belongs to us."

"Ladon is a free spirit," I said "And for now, he's with me."

"Ladon has guarded this place for centuries." She protested

"Then maybe he wants a change of scenery." I countered

Ladon made a grumbling sound and I looked back at him. He shifted his massive dragon feet back and forth and looked back and forth between me and the Hesperides.

"I sense Ladon's loyalties are to the son of Diana now," Zoe said "And this is something ye cannot change sister."

Sister?

"Fine!" She exclaimed "If he wants to take Ladon then fine!"

The four of them disappeared back into the fog and I turned to Zoe. She held a small frown on her face but motioned us to follow her. I raised my bow again and followed. Now that I was close and paying attention, I realized that Zoe was slightly transparent. I had no idea why she was here if she was dead, but I had learned not to question anything unless absolutely necessary. Reyna was behind me with her sword and Ladon was behind her. He kept on glancing back at where what remained of his tree had been. I felt a little bit bad for him.

"You okay buddy?" I asked, falling back a bit to stand next to him

He gave a small whimper. I swear I never thought dragons could make these noises but they're just like big lizard-like dogs. I reached up and patted his side, then kept moving. I'm telling you, for a dragon, he could move really quietly when he wanted to.

"We're almost there," Zoe said "Are ye sure about this."

Reyna nodded and Zoe kept moving. We came out of the garden onto a bunch of black rocks. I glanced around at all the rocks and began to realize something. It looked like rubble from a building, as though a castle had been leveled here. Zoe ducked down and motioned for us to do the same. I heard noises and bangs as we crept up the side. Ladon stayed behind so that we could move quicker if we needed to. I figured if he had to, he'd get us out of here in a heartbeat. We came behind a giant black stone that had pieces crumbling off of it. Zoe, Reyna, and I pushed ourselves up to peek over the top, and I almost gasped out loud when I saw what was on the other side.

"Oh my gods." Reyna whispered

 **Badabing badaboom. We out. So that was the first chapter, hit that review pretty pretty please. I'm begging ya'll I love it when I get them reviews. Straight up makes my day. I hope ya'll liked it, I put a lot of effort into this one because it's starting to get to the point where it just goes down. And for those of you that are wondering, I am not going to reveal Antonio's godly parent until a later chapter although some of you may have figured it out by now. If you haven't, well you will soon. Anyways read and review, flames and suggestions are accepted. God bless all of ya'll who been riding with me since the first day, I love you guys. See ya in the next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2: The son of Fire

**Hey guys, thanks for coming back. I've been having a little bit of trouble with the cover photo, it keeps changing to my old profile picture for some reason. So if you get on this story and it's a picture of a confederate flag, that's why. And if that offends you, go fuck yourself. Southern pride bitches. Anyways I kind of sat around with this one for a few days trying to figure out where I wanted to go from where I left off, and I finally figured out where to take it, so without further ado I give you the second chapter ladies and germs. God bless ya if you ride since day one, love you guys you're making this happen.**

Chapter 2: The son of Fire

Hestia: 16 years earlier

"Hush my child," I whispered to the baby in my arms "I wont hurt you."

He shifted a little bit but then finally quieted down. I smiled down at him, staring into his eyes. The eyes that would see so much pain, so much heartache, see love, and lose friends. I looked up at the neighborhood around me and frowned a bit. This was no place to raise a child, but then again it would be better than him living at the camp. He had to grow up away from magic and gods and monsters. I felt a tear threaten to escape my eye but I forced it back down.

"You promised yourself you'd be strong," I said in a shaky voice "You cannot turn back."

The baby in my arms made a small sound of concern, and I refocused my gaze back to him. He smiled back at me, lighting up the world. Gods never thought much of their children because they had them all the time, but it was much different for a maiden goddess. I had only one child, and I cherished him. I would not forget about him, and I would always watch over him. But I had to give him up for now, and one day he would come to Camp Half-Blood and be a great hero. My arms shook slightly as I continued to walk, until I came upon the tiny, shack-like house that would be my son's home until it was time for me to reveal myself to him. I knew this wasn't a gang neighborhood but I felt very exposed, vulnerable, and watched. I stepped through the rough, iron fence and walked up the concrete path onto the front porch. I heard music coming from inside and I knew somebody was home, but I wasn't here to enjoy music. I knocked on the door and a moment later the music stopped, and footsteps sounded closer to the door. The door opened and I smiled at the man inside. He looked a bit shocked to see me, but resigned to what was happening. He knew who I was the moment I had met him, and had helped me throughout the pregnancy.

"Hello Tony." I said

"Well what do ya know," He said "Hestia pops back up."

I smiled as he moved aside and motioned me inside. I stepped inside his house and immediately went into the living room and sat down. He followed me in and stared at the bundle in my arms.

"Is this him?" He asked

"Yes." I said, offering him the baby

He took him in his arms and stared at him for a moment, then a broke into a smile. He looked up at me and suddenly a dark look crossed his face.

"I need to see." He said

"Tony I can't," I told him "If you knew, you wouldn't want him to become a demigod."

"Listen to me," He said, sitting down next to me "I promise you, I will not interfere with his destiny when the time come. But I want to know what his destiny is."

He stared into my eyes for a moment, silently begging me. I knew it wasn't smart to show him, but he had helped me sire one of the most powerful demigods known to man and he had a right to know.

"Very well," I said "But you must never tell a soul of the the things I am about to show you."

"I wont." He promised

He sat the baby, who had fallen asleep, on the couch and I took his hands. He stared into my eyes and I stared back into his, and suddenly we were pulled into a memory. We were seeing it through the eyes of the fates, who see and know all, but never seem to say anything. I saw three boys, one with dark brown hair and golden eyes, and two others, twins, with silver eyes. One of them had a terrible scar running through his left eye, and tattoos on his arms.

"Antonio," Said the one with the scar on his eye "Cover us while Eli breaks the coffin."

The golden eyed one, Antonio, nodded and raised his swords. He had two double edges celestial bronze blades with a clip on the bottom of each of them so they could hook together. Two hellhounds bore down on him and he began slashing at them. The memory fast forwarded a little bit and Antonio stood alone with the boy without the scar, Eli. They were in the woods outside of Camp Half-Blood, talking urgently.

"I'm not sure," Antonio was saying "But I'll keep an eye out."

"Watch yourself out there," Eli said "Some of the monsters out here are nasty."

Antonio laughed and started to say something, but then the memory fast forwarded again. This time, Antonio was limping while the boy with the eye scar carried him. I noticed Antonio's left arm was bloody, but before I could get a good look, the memory shifted again. This time, Antonio was on the roof of a cabin with a girl. I couldn't make out her face from below them, but I could see them clearly. The moonlight illuminated them as they kissed, and the light bounced off of Antonio's left arm and a small flash of gold caught my eye, before the memory stopped suddenly and we were back in the present.

"That made no sense." Tony said as I recovered my wits

"That's all I've been able to see," I told him "But things must play out."

"I won't breathe a word of this to anyone." He swore

"I know, and I trust you." I said

"Have you named him yet?" Tony asked

"No," I admitted "I thought we could do that together."

"You can choose his first name," Tony said "I'll say he gets my last name."

We already know his first name." I said

"Wait," Tony said "We do?"

"Yes, you saw him in the memory." I told him

Slow realization dawned on him as he stared down at his son, and nodded.

"So he-" He stopped, as if trying to grasp what he was thinking

"He is Antonio Gilardoni," I said "The one and only, son of Hestia."

Raven: Present day

Of course, I did want to get out of there quickly, but I still hoped we didn't get attacked by monsters. I suppose that got us out of there quicker than me just laying low and bailing whenever. I whipped around quickly as a pack of hellhounds busted through the back doors to the gym and the fire alarms went off as the emergency exit was ripped clean out of the wall. Antonio froze up and stared at the dogs, my mother and I were already in action. I pulled my lighter from my jeans, flicked it, and rushed the hellhounds. My mother summoned her bow and shot one of the hellhounds in the throat.

"Wha-?" Mrs. Davis said, staring open mouthed at the hellhounds

I slashed one down and stabbed another one as it jumped at me. I counted out eight of them, that was three down. My mother shot another one and I blasted it with silver light. I kicked another away, and cut a second one down. Antonio was watching us with wide eyes, right along with everybody else. My mother shot another one with her arrows and I cut down the final two.

 _Out,_ I thought franticly _Now._

I turned around and sprinted back down the side of the gym, grabbing Antonio's arm and dragging him out of the busted exit.

"Mist!" I yelled to my mother "Hurry!"

Antonio was in too much shock to even fight back as I dragged him from the building and into the back of the school. After a second he seemed to recover his wits and pulled his wrist away from me.

"Yo!" He yelled "You want to tell me what the hell that was about?"

He pointed back to the building but kept his eyes on my sword, as if I might go after him next. It turned back into a lighter and I stuck it back into my pocket, and looked back at Antonio.

"Look dude, I promise you I'll explain," I said "But right now, we have to get the fuck out of here."

"And go where?" He demanded

Before I could answer, my mother came running out after us. She stopped when she came up to us and her eyes flickered between us, detecting a standoff.

"I worked the mist," She said "They won't even remember our names, who we are or anything. But we need to go now."

"Where?" Antonio asked again

"Take us to your father." Mom said instantly

"What?" Antonio and I asked at the same time

"Just trust me." My mother said

"First, you explain what's going on." Antonio said, planting his feet

"Bro, listen to me" I said "We will answer any questions that we can, but we have to get out of here right now."

He seemed to have a silent internal debate for a moment before he seemed to see I was telling the truth. I would answer whatever questions that I could if we got out of here alive. He weighed his options for a moment before finally nodding at us.

"Fine," He said "Follow me."

"We'll need to haul ass." I said, indicating the the police and fire trucks pulling up

"Right." Antonio muttered

He took off running through the back of the parking lot and hopped the fence, my mother and I close behind him. He checked behind to make sure we were still with him before turning back around. He turned the corner and I noticed an immediate change in the neighborhood. This was what we referred to as the poor side of town. We had gone from big two story houses to one story shacks all lines up next to one another, apartments line the street corners and a few gas stations stood at the end of the road. Antonio stopped about ten feet away and I slowed up to stop with him.

"We're almost there," He said "But I want to ask a few questions before we go the rest of the way."

I thought about it for a moment. We were still exposed but we were far enough away that a few questions couldn't hurt.

"Alright, shoot." I told him

"What were those things?" He asked

"Hellhounds," My mother told him "Dogs from the Underworld, no doubt they caught your scent."

"What is my scent?" He asked

"That will take a while to answer," I told him "Ask another question."

"What are you?" He asked

"Also long, but I'll expand on it later," I told him "Short version: This is the greek goddess Artemis, and I'm her son."

His jaw dropped and his eyes widened. I could literally see all of the questions swimming through his head, but he held them in. He's asked some questions and gotten some answers. He turned around and motioned us to follow him and started running again. We followed him until he came to a street corner and stopped, checking left and right. I stopped behind him just as he took off again, my mother and I hot on his heels. Once he had crossed the street he stopped in front of an old house with a small iron fence around it.

"This is it," He said "Home."

"Good," Artemis said "Let's go."

He pushed open the gate and walked up the small concrete path onto the front porch. I had a small feeling something was watching us, but I pushed it aside. Antonio opened the door and walked inside. I followed him in, my mother close behind me.

"Dad!" Antonio called "I'm home! But we got a major problem and need to talk!"

"So how long you suspended for this time then?" A voice asked jokingly from the kitchen

"Not suspended." Antonio said

A man emerged from the kitchen with a grin on his face, but it slid away when he saw me and my mother. He had a mustache, a balding head, tan skin, and kind features. He looked like one of those guys you'd think was intimidating but then just turned out to be a giant teddy bear.

"You." He said, staring at me

"Me?" I asked, confused

As far as I knew, I had never met this guy in my life. But I was never very good with faces, so I may have fucked this guy over on some drug deal or something involving gangs a few years ago and forgotten about it. Or shit, maybe I had robbed his store. Zeus knows I've done it plenty of times without a mask.

"Do I know you?" I asked him

"I was afraid of this day," He said "It is good to finally meet you Lady Artemis."

"I'm sorry, have _we_ met?" My mother asked

"No, but I do know of you." He said "My name is Tony Gilardoni, I'm Antonio's father."

"Hold up," Antonio said, putting his hands up "What the hell is going on?"

"Son, do you remember how I used to tell you that your mother died giving birth to you?" Tony asked

"Yeah." Antonio said

"Well she didn't die," He said "She was a greek goddess."

"Yeah, nah I'm gonna need more." Antonio said, making a go on gesture

"I met your mother while I was still driving taxis," He said "Don't ask me why a goddess was taking a taxi. But anyways, we met, and I knew who she was and we started talking. I helped her through the pregnancy and when you were born, she left you with me."

"So Mom abandoned us." Antonio summed up

"No!" Tony exclaimed "Absolutely not! She had to son, she had to stay as far away as she could and postpone the inevitable."

"What inevitable?" Antonio asked

"The prophecy?" I guessed

"Exactly, Antonio will be part of your prophecy." Tony said

I still wasn't sure how he knew about all of this stuff, but I had learned to just roll with it and ask questions later.

"He is the son of fire," I said "Who is his mother?"

"You mean you haven't guessed it yet?" A voice said from behind

I whirled around, pulling my sword as I did so. I found myself sticking it in the face of a young woman. She had golden eyes, brown, curly hair, and motherly features. She was wearing a long brown robe with the hood pulled up. She lowered the hood and smiled at us.

"Would you be so kind as to lower your weapon?" She asked politely

"I'm sorry, Lady Hestia." I said, lowering my blade

"Quite alright." She said, walking past to stand at Tony's side.

"If I might inquire," Artemis said "Why have you come here Hestia."

"Oh come now Artemis, surely you of all the Olympians have figured it out by now." Hestia said, slightly amused

I still wasn't entirely sure what was going on but realization dawned on my mother's face as she uttered the words. She looked back and forth between Antonio and Hestia, as if sizing up their similarities. As her head swiveled back and forth between them, I realized what was going on.

"No way," I said in complete disbelief "The son of fire is a son of Hestia?"

Hestia smiled, telling me I had the right answer. I looked over at Antonio, who suddenly narrowed his eyes.

"You have got to be kidding me!" He said suddenly

"Son I know it's a lot to take in," Tony said "But I promise you, I can explain whatever you want to know."

"Let's start with something simple," Antonio said angrily "Like why did you never tell me?"

"I told you," Tony said "We couldn't risk them finding you any sooner. We delayed it as long as we could."

"Delayed what?" Antonio demanded

"The prophecy." Hestia said

"What fucking prophecy?" Antonio shouted, anger apparent now

"It's an ancient prophecy," I told him "It's the reason our mothers were forced into an oath to never have kids. You, my brother, and I could destroy the age of the gods."

"Apollo spoke a prophecy in ancient times," Hestia told him "When Zeus learned of this prophecy, he became angry and forced us into an oath. The prophecy foretells that two sons of the moon, and a son of fire will be born. They will battle several enemies who serve one called the fallen king, and if they are to choose to join our enemies, they could destroy us all."

"Some of the prophecy has already come true," I told him "But it's just beginning."

"Back up," Antonio said "Who is the fallen king?"

"We don't know." Artemis said

Antonio looked like he wanted to throw up and hit something at the same time. I knew how he felt, I hadn't felt much different. There were still things about all of this 'being a demigod' bullshit that still made me nauseous. Sometimes I wished I had just stayed in Flat Junction, and other times I was glad I left.

"You have to go to camp." Tony said

"What camp?" He asked

"Camp Half-Blood," I said, quoting the words said to me so long ago "The safest place on earth, other than Camp Jupiter and Olympus itself of course, for people like us."

"What are we exactly?" Antonio asked

"Half-Bloods." I said

He took a moment to let this sink in. I knew his head must be full of questions that he just didn't know how to ask, but we had spelled out the picture for the most part.

"And if I don't want to go to this camp?" He asked

"I guess you don't really have to," I said "But we'll train you, and help prepare you for whatever monsters may be waiting for you."

"Monsters?" He asked skeptically

"You saw those hellhounds." I said

He nodded and a dark look crossed his eyes. I knew he was still torn in between what we were saying being true and us lying to him. He was important to the prophecy, I had to get him to Camp Half-Blood. But if he didn't want to go I couldn't really make him.

"Give the camp a try," Tony said "It might grow on you."

"We don't even have a Hestia cabin." I said suddenly

"Cabins?" Antonio asked

"It would be way too much work to explain." I told him

"Fine, guess you'll have to explain it on the way." He said

"So you're in?" I asked him

"Yeah, fuck it," He sighed "I guess I am."

Eli:

"That is _not_ good." I said

"Is that what I think it is?" Zoe asked

"Well," I said "Do you think it's a glowing golden coffin?"

"Eli, do you know what that is?" Reyna asked

"Not really," I said "But I assume, at least where we're at for the moment, big glowing coffins ain't a good sign."

"That's the coffin of Saturn-I mean Kronos." Reyna said

"Can ya'll just not destroy shit?" I hissed

"How do they plan to bring him back this time?" Reyna asked

"Same way they brought him back last time I would assume." Zoe said

"Well why don't I just go and take care of that." I said, drawing my knives

"Wait," Reyna hissed "What are you doing?"

"Zoe, go ahead and book it," I told the shade "We'll take it from here."

"I wish thee luck, child of Diana." Zoe said

"Luck is the only reason I'm even still alive." I muttered as Zoe faded back into the fog

"Do you even have a plan right now?" Reyna asked me as I started walking again

"Absolutely not," I whispered, creeping slowly along the edge "But I do know what to do."

"And that is?" Reyna asked, following me

"Go in, kill, destroy the coffin, walk out." I replied

"As your superior-" Reyna began, but then she stopped herself

Reyna never played the outrank card on me, since she knew it didn't work anyways. I played along, I showed up for drills, I took orders, but if I made up my mind on something, I was likely going to do it. Reyna had learned that saying she was my superior did very little for her end. As I climbed along the rocks, my thoughts slipped to Kayla. It had been three weeks since she had found out she was pregnant, and I was still in shock. I still hadn't told anybody, and we were waiting for a good time, when she starts showing the signs for example. I peeked my head over the rock and drew back an arrow.

"What are we doing?" Reyna asked

"I'll let the arrow into that sentry, you move in, I'll cover." I told her

She nodded and slipped around me. I let the arrow go and it struck the monster in the back, making a small thunk sounds as it did so. He straightened up in surprise and then dissolved into golden powder. I saw Reyna moving slowly up the rocks to where the coffin was. I really wasn't sure how exactly they planned to bring Kronos back, but everybody had made it perfectly clear he wasn't going to be able to form any sort of being. Unfortunately, that really narrowed down most of our clues, but not all of them. I let another arrow go and watch it strike a snake woman in the neck. I scanned the rocks and found Reyna again, pulling her sword out of a hellhound. A Cyclops was just coming around one of the stones and saw Reyna. His one eye widened, but that was about the only thing he had time to do. Reyna whipped a dagger from her belt and threw it at him, sinking it right into his chest.

"Damn." I whispered, impressed

Reyna was a fighter, and a good one. I knew that, but she still surprised me every now and again. As Reyna moved around the corner I had this overwhelming sense of danger, like something was going to happen. No sooner had I registered this feeling, Reyna cried out.

 _Shit._ I thought

I hopped down from the rock I was perched on and raced down where Reyna had gone. When I got to where she had killed the hellhound I jumped onto a stone and creeped around the top, peeking my head over the top and down below. Reyna was being restrained by five Telkhines. A snake women in regal looking armor glared at Reyna and slithered back and forth.

"So demigod," The snake woman said "You thought you'd come snooping around did you?"

Reyna said nothing, she didn't even look scared. I knew she was scanning around her, trying to find an escape route. Her eyes darted around and finally landed on me, perched above them.

"Which camp are you from?" The snake woman demanded

Reyna glared at her, but still said nothing.

"Lift her sleeve." She demanded

One of the Telkhines grabbed her sleeve and ripped it up, revealing her tattoos. I absentmindedly glanced down at my own, that I had gotten when we arrived back at camp. Reyna had authorized me to be a centurion for the second cohort, and I had been...well, branded I guess is what it was. On the bottom of my right forearm were the letters SPQR, and next to them was a crescent moon, then below them was a single, downward, stripe like a tally mark.

"Oh this is fantastic," The snake woman "Not only have we captured a Roman, but it seems we have a praetor."

"Camp Jupiter won't negotiate with you." Reyna said

"Oh I think they might," The snake woman said "After all, we have their praetor."

"ELI!" Reyna yelled "GET OUT OF HERE! TELL FRANK-"

One of the Telkhines put his flipper over her mouth and looked around.

"There's another demigod here." He said

"COME OUT LITTLE ROMAN!" The snake woman yelled

Monsters were beginning to move around all over the place. I was high enough I could see them making their way to us, I had to act fast. I shouldered my bow and pulled out my knives. I jumped off the block of stone and came down on top of one of the Telkhines, driving my knife into the back of his neck. It caused enough of a distraction for Reyna to break free of her captives and recover her sword. She slashed two other Telkhines and was turning to face the other one when I grabbed her arm and pulled her after me.

"What are you doing?" She demanded as I ran

"We're surrounded by monsters," I told her "We'll get killed staying in one place too long."

Sure enough, as I uttered the words, a Cyclops came flying out of a gap between two stones and almost sent me flying. I jumped at him and stabbed him in the back, turned, and continued running.

"LADON!" I yelled, still running

I heard the shriek of a dragon and the massive flapping of wings. Nearly half a second later, a massive, scaly, green dragon flew right over us and breathed fire straight into the rocks behind us. I heard the screams of monsters as they caught fire. Ladon landed on the top of a giant stone and swatted a couple of hellhounds aside.

"Come on!" Reyna yelled, grabbing my arm

We climbed up the stones making our way to Ladon, I could still see the coffin shining golden light all down the mountainside. Monsters were swarming all over the rocks and making their way towards us. I pulled my bow and let an arrow go into snake woman. She screamed and disintegrated into golden powder, then caught fire when Ladon torched the entire area. I pulled myself up onto the rock with him and reached down for Reyna, who grabbed my arm and pulled herself up.

"Eli!" She yelled "Get out of here! I'll cover you!"

"I'm not leaving you here!" I yelled back "You're the praetor, the camp needs you!"

"My duty is to protect my soldiers!" She yelled back

"Then why in the hell do ya'll teach us it's our duty to protect the praetor?" I yelled back

She didn't have an answer for that one, so she just turned around and slash a Telkhine right at the waist. he toppled backwards and his dust blinded the ones climbing up after him, and I blasted them with silver light. When it died down, all that was left of them was their weapons. Ladon ate four hellhounds in one gulp and knocked two more away with his paw. I ran for him and jumped onto his back, Reyna right behind me. Ladon took off the second I got my hands around his reigns. We shot straight into the air and the wind from his wings knocked back a bunch of the monsters.

"ELI!" Reyna yelled suddenly "THREE O'CLOCK!"

I looked over just as two gorgons flew out of nowhere and one snatched Reyna right off of Ladon. The other tried to grab at me but I elbowed her in the face, and she plummeted down into the rocks. I jerked Ladon to the side and went back down after Reyna, but they had already landed and were pushing Reyna into the crowd of monsters. If Ladon used flames on them, he'd kill Reyna, and if I went in after her I'd be killed and then so would she.

"ELI!" Reyna yelled "GO!"

I pulled back on Ladon's reigns and he stopped suddenly and hovered. I weighed my options. Go in to get Reyna, most likely both of us die, or fly away and bring back all of the Romans but possibly find Reyna dead already. Every single one of my instincts was screaming at me to get the hell out of there, but my morals were telling me to go in and get her. No Roman left behind, unless we were all dead of course.

 _What would Jason do?_ I though

Jason would go back. He'd blow them apart with lightning and grab Reyna and ride out like a knight in shining armor. Unfortunately for Reyna, I'm not a knight in shining armor. I'm a Blood in old set of armor. Still, I guess it was all in your heart.

"KILL HIM!" One of the gorgons yelled

"ELI!" Reyna yelled again "GO! THAT'S AN ORDER!"

Reyna wanted me to leave her behind. I knew what I was going to do. I made a silent vow right then that I was going to come back for her. I knew since she was a praetor they wouldn't kill her right away, and when I got back to camp I was going to let Frank know what had happened. And I was going to come back here, with or without the Romans, and get Reyna back. I gave Ladon's reigns a small tug and he turned quickly and shot towards the fog separating Mount Othrys and the garden of the Hesperides. We entered the fog and the screams of frustrated gorgons was suddenly cut off. We shot into the garden but then even that disappeared a second later.

 _I'll come back for you Reyna,_ I said _I swear it on the river Styx._

Ladon and I flew through more fog and into the open, slightly polluted, San Francisco air.

 **Hey guys thanks for hitting me up on chapter two though. I love when ya'll be reviewing so hit me with some reviews, flames and suggestions are accepted. I'd like to welcome HispanicThug to the Son of the Huntress family cuz I be all polite and stuff. Thanks to my man for helping me with this, you my dawg and all that. We brainstorming another story that's gonna be set after the events of Dragon Quest 8, if you're not familiar with that then you best get familiar right quick cuz the story will be the bomb. Anyways like I said, read and review, God bless ya'll who been coming in for it since day 1 I love you guys you keep it going. I'll see ya'll in chapter three.**


	3. Chapter 3: Returning to Camp Half-Blood

**Hey guys, thanks for hitting me back up. I'm still working on the whole cover photo problem and I'd like somebody to tell me if they're having that same problem. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, read the intro to the last two chapters, and if I didn't explain it well enough PM me and I'll tell you what's going on. But I really can't figure it out, I thought it was all cool and it had stopped but once I posted the second chapter it started doing it again. Anyways, please read and review, flames and suggestions both accepted. I love those big, long, paragraph like reviews idk why. Love ya'll who helped me keep this thing running, thanks to ya'll and without any further ado, we're off.**

Chapter 3: Returning to Camp Half-Blood

Antonio:

"Watch your step," Raven warned me "The hunters set up traps to keep unwanted guests away."

As he said these words, he grabbed my shoulder and pulled my slightly to the side. I looked down just as I passed over a bear trap. Artemis was walking slightly ahead of us and a small camp came into view. I could see girls perched in the trees and patrolling around the edges. It looked like we had just walked right into a summer camp.

"Lady Artemis has returned!" A girl called into the camp

"And her son too," Raven muttered "Yeah I'm okay too."

"That took less time than I thought it would." A spikey haired girl with a silver circlet said, emerging from a tent as we entered the camp

"Yes well apparently all three of us smell delicious to hellhounds." Artemis said

"We got maybe two classes in, then got attacked." Raven said as the girl gave him a questioning look

"Oh," Was all she said "Is this the demigod?"

"No Thalia," Raven said sarcastically "He died, this is some random kid we picked up off the streets."

"Wouldn't be the first time." The girl, Thalia, muttered

"That kid followed me and Eli back," Raven said defensively "We didn't bring him here."

Thalia rolled her eyes and offered me her hand. I scanned her quickly, taking in all the details. She was tall, black, spikey hair, electric blue eyes, a few bracelets and a pair of combat boots, a leather jacket and a Skillet shirt under it. She had kind of a punk rock gothic style to her.

"Thalia Grace," She said "Daughter of Zeus, Lieutenant of Artemis."

"Antonio Gilardoni," I said, shaking her hand "Son of Hestia apparently."

"Wait what?" Thalia asked, shocked

"I'll explain later." Raven said, waving her off

Thalia stopped whatever she was about to say and turned around. She walked towards where Artemis had went and Raven motioned for me to follow him. We walked through rows of tents and into the center of the camp, where several hunters were sitting on logs around a huge campfire. Raven sat down on one of the logs and I sat down beside him. It still didn't feel real to me, almost like this was all some sort of dream I was going to wake up from any second. I looked down at my purple basketball shorts and lost myself in my own thoughts.

"I think I'm gonna head back to Camp Half-Blood tomorrow," Raven announced "And I'll take Antonio with me."

"Good." One of the hunters muttered

"You know Annie," Raven said "I'm gonna be around for a little bit, you should just get used to me."

"I'm sure I will get used to you," Annie responded "But that doesn't mean I have to like you."

"Am I missing something?" I asked "Did you like, piss her off somehow."

"No," Raven sighed, as if he had explained this before and was getting tired of it "Annie has been around for about three hundred years or so, she's one of the more hardcore hunters. Meaning she's especially into the hating all guys thing, and that includes me. Some of the huntresses have gotten used to me, and some even get along with me, but a few of them, like Annie here, hate me with a passion."

"But you're a son of Artemis." I said, confused

"Yeah, keyword there being _son_ of Artemis," Raven said "If I was a daughter of Artemis, this wouldn't be a problem."

"Awe," Annie mocked "You've been listening."

"It makes it worse since Eli and I are gang members," Raven said "What with the whole 'males are violent and repulsive creatures' thing and all."

"Whose Eli?" I asked

"My brother," Raven said "But he's Roman so he's actually a son of Diana."

"Right," I said "What was that about gangs?"

"I'm from Brooklyn, my set was Flat Junction Crips," He said "Eli was from Compton, and his set was South Compton Bloods."

"Wait, you have a brother that's a Blood?" I asked, shocked "And you're a Crip?"

"Long and complicated story." Raven said

"Enough said." I said

A loud bark sounded and a wolf came running out of nowhere and tackled Raven clean off his log. He hit the ground and the wolf stood over him, licking his face.

"Hey there Jello," He laughed "Yeah yeah, I missed you too."

"You have a wolf named Jello?" I asked him

"Yeah, it was mom's gift to me for my sixteenth birthday," Raven said, pushing Jello off of him "Eli has a dragon named Ladon."

"A dragon named Ladon?" I asked

"A dragon named Ladon." Raven confirmed

"Is he aware that rhymes?" I asked him

"Probably not, he's either too drunk or too stoned to notice." Raven said

"Good way to be." I said approvingly

"Yeah, until the hangover kicks in." Raven said

"I don't drink much," I shrugged "Mostly smoking."

"Or you could just not do either." One of the hunters suggested

"What's the fun in that?" Raven and I asked at the same time

The hunter shrugged and everybody went silent. Jello laid down at Raven's feet and put her head down on his shoes. I looked over at Raven and noticed he was staring intently into the fire, as though remembering something. I watched him for a moment before a small smile came to his face. The scar on his eye looked menacing in the firelight. It was beginning to get dark and the flickering light made Raven look almost evil for a moment.

"What you thinking about?" I asked him

"Nothing." He said quickly

"Don't give me that bullshit," I laughed "You're smiling fool."

"He's thinking about Amber." Annie said snidely

"Who is Amber?" I asked

"My girlfriend." He muttered quietly

"She used to be a hunter, but when you're a hunter you aren't allowed to fall in love," She said "She fell in love with the son of Artemis and broke her oath."

"And she was kicked out of the hunt." I said, remembering the stories

"Well I think 'let go' is a better term," Raven said "It's not like Mom was pissed about it."

"Love is bad," Annie said "It makes you do things you shouldn't do."

"Like what?" Raven asked her "Have a child that grows up and joins the hunt? I don't know if you know about how babies are made, but you gotta have a man for a woman to have a child."

"Ugh, males are so insufferable." Annie fumed

"No, we're logical." Raven said

Annie got rose quickly from the log and stormed off. A few other hunters followed her, leaving Raven, me, and two other hunters alone. One of them looked a little green and I wondered if she might be sick.

"Maya, is she like that with everybody?" Raven asked

"No, she's pretty nice to the rest of us." One of the girls shrugged

"Because you're girls." Raven said

I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see Thalia emerging from a tent, wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts. She sat down on my left and gave me a small smile before throwing something at Raven.

"A letter from your _girlfriend_." Thalia teased

"Letters?" I asked him

"We don't have a way to Iris message, so we write letters and throw them into the air and the wind spirits carry them back and forth." He said

"Iris messa-oh fuck it." I said

Raven laughed and unfolded the piece of paper. He skimmed it for a moment before Thalia reached around me and hit Raven in the back of the head.

"Read it out loud dummy." She said

Raven rubbed the back of his head and began reading.

 _Dear Raven,_

 _No, you still didn't spell it right. Don't worry, you'll figure it out one of these days I'm sure. Anyways, Eli did Iris Message_

 _the other day. He told me and Kayla that he and Reyna were going to investigate Mount Othrys. We haven't heard from_

 _him in a while so I'm starting to get worried. I doubt it's much to worry about though, he probably just got busy in doing whatever_

 _it is that Romans do. And, by the way, you were right about Percy. He broke his arm and cracked four ribs going against Annabeth_

 _on the climbing wall. Guess I owe you four drachmas when you get back. Speaking of that, when will you coming back? I miss you. It seems like it's_

 _been forever even though it's only been a couple of weeks. I suspect the wind spirits are opening our letters, seeing as they are just a nosey little bunch._

 _And also there is somebody that wants to meet you when you come back. I'm not going to say who because I know that Thalia is probable making_

 _you read this aloud in front of everybody else. And I hope that other demigod is safe, I know you said Grover didn't smell any monsters around him_

 _but nothing ever seems to go right for us so I wouldn't doubt you probably got attacked. I'm not really sure when you'll get this but I know_

 _that, eventually, it will find it's way to you. The hunt moves around a lot and it's hard for the wind spirits to find you guys. I love you._

 _-Amber_

"Ohhhhhh," Thalia said "I wonder who wants to talk to you."

"I bet it's not good." Raven muttered

"Is it ever?" I asked him

He shrugged and rose from the log, stretching his arms as he did so.

"I'm going to bed," He said "Antonio, whenever you're ready, the tent next to mine is for you. It's a bit basic, just a sleeping bag and a pillow but it should do. Come on Jello"

"Which one is yours." I asked him

"The one with the blue bandanna tied around the post on the front." He said, walking away

I watched him and Jello disappear into the mass of tents before turning my attention back to the fire. I stared into it for a moment, thinking about my mother. I still didn't really trust her, or anybody else for that matter. But I had said I would give it a try, so I was going to at least go through with this.

"So son of Hestia," Thalia said suddenly "We've got some questions for you."

Eli:

"So Reyna is dead then?" Frank asked

"No," I said "She's not dead, but she's captured."

"Why didn't you turn back for her?" Justin demanded

"She ordered me to leave!" I said, getting angry now "If I had gone back for her we'd both have died!"

"So you're a coward then?" Justin asked me

"Fuck no!" I said, now I was getting pissed "She gave me a direct order to leave her behind and tell Frank what happened!"

"We can't blame Eli for what happened," Frank said "He was just following orders."

"It doesn't matter what I was doing," I said "We have to go get her back."

"We don't even know if she's still alive." Justin said

"She's alive." Frank said darkly

"How can you be sure?" Justin asked

"She's a praetor," Frank said "They would've kept her alive."

"But we don't bargain for captives," Justin said "And they know that."

"No, but they might try." Frank said

"I have another ummm theory." I said

Frank and Justin both looked at me expectantly. The moment the words left my mouth, I began having second thoughts about what I was doing. Sure, Frank and Justin both knew about the prophecy, but this was a way wild theory even if it was worth considering.

 _Too late now._ I thought

"Back when the monsters invaded Camp Half-Blood, and Raven interrogated that shape shifter," I said "The shapeshifter said that Kronos needed a form to return."

"No," Frank said "No it's gotta be something else. They're not going to use Reyna to bring back Kronos."

"Frank, think about it," Justin said "It all falls into place."

"I know, but that's just-" He stopped and stared out the door of his office

"We need to organize a quest to go after her." Justin said

"Yes, we do." Frank said solemnly

"Let me go," I spoke up suddenly "I'm the one that fucked up. I'm the one that got her there."

"We'll have to leave it to the senate." Justin said

"We can't," I protested "Nobody else can know about this prophecy yet."

"We'll just say Reyna was taken." Justin said

"None of the others will buy that," Frank said "They're not stupid."

"Well what are we going to do then?" Justin demanded "The others aren't going to just not notice Reyna is gone."

"Tell them she went somewhere to get away." I suggested

"Where?" Frank asked "Reyna doesn't take vacations."

"Okay, nevermind that," I said "How long can Reyna not be around before people notice she's missing?"

"Maybe two days max." Frank said

"Okay so we have two days to think of something." Justin said

"If we can't get Reyna back in two days, I'll tell the others everything myself." I said

"No offense to you Eli," Justin said "But can we really trust him with this."

"Eli is a good fighter, and he's smart," Frank said "If anybody can get Reyna back in two days, it's him."

"Who are you going to take?" Justin asked me

"I know exactly who I want with me on this." I said

Kayla:

I laid in my bed staring at the ceiling, thinking about Eli. I was still shaken up about finding out I was pregnant. We hadn't told a single person, not even our parents although I suspect my father already knew, being the god of prophecy and all. I missed having Eli with me to help. He had to hold me for two hours after I told him I was pregnant. We talked as often as we could, but I missed feeling him hug me. I hadn't talked to him in three days and I was starting to just miss the sound of his voice. Amber had it even worse than I did, she hadn't seen or heard Raven in weeks. They could only communicate by letters since Raven didn't have anything to run an Iris Message out of.

"Knock knock." A voice said from the door

I looked up at a seventeen year old standing in the doorway. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, perfect tan, wearing a cut-off and a pair of shorts. I knew he was a son of Apollo but I couldn't remember seeing his face. I'd been at camp since I was eleven so I knew I should've recognized him.

"Can I help you?" I asked, slightly confused

"Actually you can Kayla," He said "I'd like to talk to you for a moment, before the others get back from dinner."

It was in that moment that it dawned on me slowly. This wasn't a son of Apollo, it was Apollo himself.

"Dad?" I asked, just to be sure

"Ahhh there it is," He said smiling "I knew you'd figure it out."

"What are you-what are you doing here?" I stuttered

"Just here to talk to you about this." He said, pointing at my stomach

My heart dropped for a moment. My father was the god of medicine and prophecy, so not only did he know the health condition of the baby, he knew it's future too. I stood up quickly and I knew the fear was showing on my face.

"Nothing is wrong with it," He said assuringly "But I must say, I really disapprove."

"Of Eli?" I asked him

"Oh heavens no," He said "I could never disapprove of one of my sister's children. No I disapprove because you're underage."

"Please don't tell anybody yet." I begged him

"Nobody else knows," He assured me "Not even Zeus himself."

"Good." I said

"Yes, but I do wonder what Artemis will think when she finds out," He said "Or Diana, whatever."

"I really do love Eli," I said "I do, and if I had to have anybody's baby I'm glad it's his."

"I do really want to discuss this with Aphrodite, but I feel she may be biased seeing as she doesn't like Artemis." Apollo said

"Oh gods," I said "Please I'm begging you, keep her from finding out for as long as you can."

"You fear her anger and vengeance against Eli's child?" He asked me

"Amber said she was angry enough about Raven being born, then Eli, now our child, I'm afraid she might not just stand by anymore." I said

"It's a rational fear, Aphrodite is very very vengeful, she would kill it to get to Artemis. I doubt she'd do it to Raven and Amber because Amber is her daughter, but you're my daughter, no ties to her." Apollo said

"Exactly." I said, nodding

"I will delay her knowledge as long as possible," He said "And when she does find out, I will keep an eye on her."

"Thank you father." I said, truley grateful

"I must go now," He said "But, for the moment, your baby is healthy."

"Thank you." I said to him

He nodded and gave me a quick hug before disappearing out the door. I sat back down on the bed and sighed. I figured everybody else was going to be heading to the campfire so I might as well go an join them. But before I could even get up, the fountain in the center of the room began to glow.

"You have one call waiting," A disembodied voice said "From San Francisco."

"Eli," I said "Send it through."

A moment later, Eli appeared in front of me. He had a backpack over his shoulder and wore simple leather armor used by the Roman archers, a black t-shirt under it, sagging jeans with his red bandanna tucked into his right back pocket, and his red LA snapback. He grinned and waved at me.

"Can you hear me?" I asked him

"Yeah," He said "Say hi to Ladon."

"Hi Ladon," I sighed "What's with the backpack."

"I'm coming to meet my brother at Camp Half-Blood." He said

"You're coming back?" I asked, excited

"Yeah, but it's not on very fun terms." He said

"What do you mean?" I asked him

"You can't tell anybody," He told me "But Reyna went MIA and I'm leading the quest to find her."

"MIA?" I asked "What was she doing?"

"That is top secret," Eli said "Sorry."

"It's fine," I shrugged "When will you be back?"

"I'm leaving tomorrow morning," He said "Gotta find Raven, so maybe about noon or so."

"I can't wait to see you." I said

"Me too, how's the baby?" He asked

"Healthy," I said "It'll be a while before I start showing signs, but nothing bad has happened so far."

I decided not to tell him that my father knew about it. I figured it wasn't really something he absolutely needed to know, I'm sure he'd find out anyways. Eli glanced off the side and reached for something before turning his attention back to me.

"Listen, I won't be able to talk for long, I need to sleep if I'm getting up tomorrow." He said

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then?" I asked him

"Yeah." He said

"Okay, I love you." I told him

"I love you too." He said, swiping his hand through the image

Eli faded away, leaving me alone in the Apollo cabin. I rubbed my eyes, figuring I needed to sleep. I walked back over to my bed and laid down, pulling the blankets over myself and putting my head deep into the pillow. Sleep washed over me almost instantly.

 **Hey guys, thanks for returning. I gotta run like super quick and there isn't a whole lot of stuff I really have to say. God bless ya'll been with it, please read and review with them long sweet paragraphs talking bout how much you love it. Or how much you hate it, I like constructive criticism. I'm serious like it seems like everybody loves my stuff but it's like seriously, get on the comments section and tell me how much you hate this story. Tell me how much it sucks, how much you wish I would just die. Nah I'm kidding, I've actually seen that before. Some people are some seriously fake thugs on this site. Anyways, read and review, flames and suggestions both accepts. I love ya'll, see you next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4: Starting the quest

**Hey guys, thanks for hitting me back up with it I'm grateful for ya'll for coming back day after day to read my story. I love ya'll man, God moving among us here and spreading the peace and love. I feel so good thinking the other day that everybody reading my stories is of some different race or religion. Think about it, I've got males, females, Christians, Atheists, Muslims, Hindus. Jews, whites, blacks, mexicans, asians, and all sorts of people coming to read this. Books bring people together and that's just a fact straight up. Anyways, I don't own PJO and all that so love ya'll, God bless, and without any further ado, HERE! WE! GO!**

Chapter 4: Starting the quest

Eli:

I flew above the treetops with the night sky above me. I glanced at the moon and drew in a deep breath as I felt it's power flow through me. I prefered to fight at night because I drew power from the moon. I gave Ladon's reigns a small tug and he slowed down and finally stopped, hovering in the air. I glanced around at the trees around me, scanning for signs of the hunt. I saw a small clearing and a flickering light about fifty yards to my left. I steered Ladon to the left and he moved forward slowly. I drew closer to the fire and looked down. My enhanced vision let me see that there was only four hunters awake sitting in front of a fire. My mother, Thalia, Maya, and Annie. I pulled Ladon's reigns again and he began to land, causing the four of them to look up suddenly.

"Yo!" I called, waving

My mother looked in shock as Ladon landed behind the tents and I dismounted. I had made a little bit of noise and stirred the rest of the hunt, and they began emerging out of their tents. I wove my way through the camp to my mother. She glanced at Ladon and then gave me a small smile.

"Well that was quite an entrance." She admitted

"I'm good at those." I shrugged

The rest of the huntresses were returning to their tents, grumbling about stupid males. Thalia eyed Ladon nervously but said nothing as he pawed the ground, impatient to get back to flying. He loved the open air and I hated to bring him down like that.

"Go fly around buddy," I told him "I'll call you when I need you."

His wings shot out and he flew into the air, taking off into the night sky. I turned back to my mother and gave my best at a smile.

"Well, I'll jump right to it," I told her "I don't really have a lot of time. Reyna went missing while we were investigating Mount Othrys and-"

"Eli I thought I forbade you to go there." My mother scolded

"Yeah, that doesn't mean I listened," I said, rolling my eyes "Anyways, we were poking around and Reyna got captured. She ordered me to go back to camp and tell Frank what happened, he put me in charge of a quest to get her back."

"Why are you here though?" Thalia asked "Mount Othrys is in California."

"Because I want Raven to come with me." I said

"He has his own task to fulfil." My mother said

"What could be more important than my needs?" I asked sarcastically

"This demigod is extremely important," My mother said "Raven needs to get him to camp."

"What about me?" A groggy voice asked from behind

I turned to see my brother emerging from between two tents, wearing jeans and a white, long sleeved, shirt. He rubbed his eyes and then looked at me, flashing a small grin.

"Miss me already?" He joked

"Totally," I said sarcastically "I need your help."

"With?" He asked

"Raven, you have to take Antonio to Camp Half-Blood." Artemis protested

"What's all the noise about?" Another voice said

A brown haired kid wearing a black hoodie and a pair of jeans emerged from a the tent next to where Raven had come from. There was something unusual about him and I couldn't quite place it, then I saw it. He had golden eyes. The more I looked at him, the more I realized he looked familiar.

"Who is this?" I asked

"This would be the demigod that's so important." My mother said

"Antonio Gilardoni," He said "Son of Hestia, I guess."

"Son of He-you know what? Fuck it." I said, throwing my hands up

"What did you need my help with?" Raven asked

"Reyna went missing the other day," I told him "I can explain more on the way but they've given me the quest to go find her, and I want you to come with me."

"Kronos?" He asked

"Probably has something to do with it." I said, shrugging

"How long do we have to do it?" He asked me

"Reyna could be missing for at least two days before the others notice she's gone," I said "So we literally have like, forty six hours to get her back."

"Shit, we won't be able to make it to camp and back." Raven said

"Just tell me where camp is," Antonio said "I'll get there myself."

"We can't," Raven said "You don't have a whole lot of training, you'll get killed."

"Okay, hear me out," I said "I don't know this kid, but let's take him with us."

"No!" My mother exclaimed

"Mom, we need to get Reyna back, I won't do this with anybody else." I protested

"He's right, we can take Antonio with us," Raven said "If he wants to."

He looked back at Antonio, who was thinking it over. He didn't have a weapon but that could be fixed easily. He looked a bit shocked we were leaving it up to him. After a few seconds, he shrugged.

"I'm down." He said

"Antonio, you need to go to camp." Thalia said

"Why?" He asked

Thalia didn't have an answer for him. She couldn't really just keep telling him that he had to. Eventually, he'd ask for a real answer and they just wouldn't be able to give him one. I had him figured for the most part. He seemed like he asked questions, and if you didn't give him a satisfactory answer, he's going with his gut. Honestly had to admire the guy, and the quest would be good training for him.

"If he wants to go with us, then let him." Raven said

"He doesn't even have a weapon." Artemis protested

"Yeah he does." I said, pulling one of my knives and tossing it to him

He caught it and looked at it. It was just a standard silver knife for the hunt, nothing special, but better than absolutely nothing. He walked over to stand by me and Raven followed him.

"Raven, I forbid you to go." Artemis said angrily, stepping in front of him

He was at least half a foot taller than her, so I knew it was hard for him to take her seriously, but he managed to keep a straight face. I saw Jello eyeing the situation from far away, wondering if her master needed her. Raven rolled his eyes and pushed past our mother, continuing his way towards us. The hunt was staring in shock, obviously not used to seeing Artemis like this. I was surprised she was sticking with the 'I forbid you to go' thing, just so unlike the stories I heard. Although she probably wasn't going to turn her own sons into animals, so I wasn't worried.

"Raven Mark Alistair!" Out mother shouted

Raven stopped cold and a small, amused smile crept onto his face. He and I busted out laughing, and a few moment later, Antonio joined us.

"You in so much trouble cuz," I said through my laughter "She used your middle name."

"Eli James Alistair, you too!" Artemis tried again

This brought on a fresh wave of laughter from the three of us. Raven was nearly doubled over, clearly not at all worried about our mother. Now I know a lot of you guys out there are thinking 'Wow Eli, that is just so disrespectful.' Well I'm telling you guys, we ain't meant no disrespect, but honestly the fact that mom thought using our full names was going to stop us, just seemed so funny.

"Ohhhhhhhhh!" Me and Raven said mockingly, still laughing

"How dare you disrespect Lady Artemis!" Annie shouted indignantly

"I can't even right now." I said, recovering

"Moms, we grown," Raven said "Let us do us."

"Doing you is going to get you killed." She said

"Nah, we'll be fine." I said

Artemis looked quite literally angry now. A small glow formed around her and she changed. He hair was pulled into a bun, she wore a Roman tunic and leather armor, and more disciplined feature. Now she was _my_ mother, Diana.

"What just happened?" Antonio asked

"I still can't figure that out," I said "Like if they be switching from Greek and Roman because of their emotions or like they do it at will."

"You two," Diana began "Eli go back to Camp Jupiter, Raven and Antonio go back to your tents."

"The fuck?" Raven asked "Is that like her version of grounding us? Eli you handle this one, this version is _your_ mother."

"I said-" She began, but I cut her off

"We heard what you said, and it ain't gonna happen." I told her

She glared at me, but made no movement towards us. I wondered how far we could push our mother before she did something. I figured we were really toeing the line right now, because Artemis was not known as a very patient goddess, and Diana was even less so. Before she could do anything, a glow filled the clearing and we all averted our eyes. When the glow died we looked back over and saw a new face among the hunters. A woman in a brown robe with brown hair and golden eyes had joined us. I realized with a start that this must've been Hestia, Antonio's mother.

"Diana, calm yourself," Hestia said "If they must go then let them.

"You'd let your own son go on a quest he isn't prepared for?" Diana asked, turning on her

"This will be his test, if he is truly the son of Fire." Hestia said

"There must be some other way for him to prove himself." Diana protested

"No, Zeus himself had decreed it," She answered "This is Antonio's test."

Diana looked resigned and let out a small breath, admitting defeat. I figured it wasn't easy for her to just let us go, but it was for the best. I figured we could get back to San Francisco before sundown, then figure out something from there.

"Fine," She said "Go, but this isn't the end of this conversation boys."

"Jello!" Raven called

Jello barked and came running from the treeline and stopped in front of Raven, sitting down and staring up at him expectantly. She panted happily as he reached down and scratched her behind her ear.

"Go to Camp Half-Blood," He told her "Only stop when absolutely necessary, and find Amber when you get there."

Jello barked an affirmative and then took off without another sound. Within seconds she had disappeared into the forest, leaving all of us alone. Raven looked back at me and I nodded at him, knowing what he was thinking.

"LADON!" I yelled

A few seconds later my dragon landed in the clearing behind me. I wanted to get out of there as quick as I possibly could so I hopped onto Ladon's back and offered Raven my hand. He took it and I pulled him up, then Antonio after him. Once we were all settled in I turned back to Hesita.

"We'll make sure he stays alive." I told her

"He will face a trial alone," she said "And Antonio, when you face this trial, you must remember this. Go for the throat."

"What?" He asked

"Why can't they just come out and say it?" I wonder out loud, flicking Ladon's reigns "Fuck with all of these riddles and shit."

He took off into the air and I felt a familiar rush of wind. The sun was beginning to come up as Ladon flew through the air, and as far away from the huntresses as possible.

Raven:

I looked down at the city shooting past below us. Ladon was fast and we'd already hit Kansas city in about five hours. I didn't know how Eli could possibly sit on this dragon and fly for as long as he did. I had tried to light a cigarette earlier but the flame kept going out.

"Hey man, tell him to land this thing!" Antonio yelled "I gotta move!"

"Me too!" I called back

I leaned forward and tapped on Eli's shoulder. He didn't feel it so I had to do it again, then he turned around and looked at me.

"Land dude!" I yelled "I gotta walk around! Get some food and all that!"

"I was just thinking the same thing!" Eli yelled back

Ladon slowly began to descend as we passed over the edge of the city and into the farmlands. I felt my stomach drop as Ladon plummeted quickly. He touched down in an old abandoned field, and immediately, the three of us dismounted. I felt the ground crunch underneath my boots. It was almost February, and the ground was covered in a thin layer of ice. We were only half a mile outside of the city, so I figured it wouldn't take us long to walk in, and it'd take us even less time to find something to eat. We all had backpacks with some clothes and a little bit of money. Mine had some liquor and weed in it, but Antonio and Eli had most of the supplies so it's all good.

"Ladon, go fly around or something," Eli told the dragon "Get yourself some birds or a deer, I'll call for you if I need you buddy."

He rubbed Ladon's snout and then watched him take off into the air. He disappeared after a minute and we began walking. We hit the road and went towards the city. I looked over at my brother and noticed his flag was hanging from his pocket and so was mine.

"Hey we should probably tuck these," I said, pointing to his flag "I get that we rep everywhere we go but I'd like to be in and out without any trouble."

"Yeah, good point." Eli agreed, tucking his flag

I pushed mine deeper into my back pocket and we kept walking. We drew closer and closer to the city and I started to smell food, and my stomach growled.

Reyna:

I awoke feeling groggy and in pain. I glanced around at my surroundings and almost gasped. I was on a stone, black floor in a cell. Ther bars were Stygian iron and two telkhines stood guard outside the cell. I pushed myself up into a sitting position and leaned against the wall, almost afraid to move.

"-A sssssuitable hossssst," A hissing voice said from down the hall, drawing closer "We'll need to prepare the ritual to bring a piece of his ssssoul forth from the pit."

"How big does the piece need to be?" A deeper voice asked

"Big enough for him to form ssssssome ssssssort of consciousness." The snake woman hissed

"We'll have to bring nearly back all of him!" The deep voice exclaimed "Do you realize how long that will take?"

"Yessss I do," The snake woman said "Which issss why he'll only need to be able to latch onto her sssoul"

They came into view of my cell and the snake woman looked down at me, smiling. She was flanked by a massive Cyclops with one large blue eye. He was seven feet tall, dressed in full, golden, Roman armor, with a golden helmet to top it off, and carrying two double edged swords on his back. One was celestial bronze and the other was imperial gold, and they had a clip on each of the hilts to click together and form a double sided sword. It wasn't a standard get-up for a Cyclops, but I suspected this one wasn't an ordinary Cyclops.

"This is the sacrifice?" He asked

"Yesssss," The snake woman hissed "Ssssshe'll do perfectly."

"With all due respect queen Sess," The Cyclops said "She would be better suited for-"

"No," Sess hissed "Ssssshe issss perfect for our lord."

"What are you going to do with me?" I asked her, trying to keep the fear out of my voice

"Oh my dear," Sess hissed again "I couldn't tell you that now could I?"

"No, but I think there's no harm in her knowing," A voice from behind them said "She'll be dead within the next forty two hours anyways."

A woman emerged from behind the two monsters and this time I really did gasp. It was Circe, my old employer. She hadn't changed a bit since the pirate attack, except for a scar on her right cheek. I had figured she was killed by the pirates but it looked like I wasn't that lucky.

"Well well well Reyna," She said "It has been quite some years hasn't it?"

"It has." I answered coldly

"Oh come now," Circe laughed "Why so angry?"

"Maybe because these monsters, who are clearly answering to you, locked me in a cell," I spat "And I'm assuming on your orders."

"Oh Reyna, straight to the point, as usual." Circe sighed

"The girl is strong in spirit," The Cyclops said "Shouldn't we just kill her and find another sacrifice?"

"Now now, be polite to our guest," Circe said "Reyna, might I introduce you to Arcadian? King of the Cyclops clans all over the world."

"Oh I don't believe we've had the pleasure." I muttered sarcastically

"Well Reyna, you asked why you were here," Circe stated "You're here because our lord Kronos requires a sacrifice. Somebody for him to latch onto and be his host, so that he can return."

"I had guessed that." I said

"Yes well, unfortunately we will have to wait while the ritual is prepared, so you'll be here for a while." Circe said with mock delight

"You really think you'll get away with this?' I asked her "As we speak, the Romans, Greeks, and possibly the Egyptians too are marching on this mountain to destroy you all."

"Oh I wouldn't be so sure of that Reyna dear." Circe said, extending her hand

A small clear orb floated from her palm and grew in the air until it was showing three boys sitting in a Waffle House. I recognized two of them as Raven and Eli, but the third was a boy that I did not recognize. He had brown hair and golden eyes, and kind features but at the same time looked very dangerous should he be angered.

"Look, all I'm saying is we need a plan." The boy said

"Antonio, when you hang around us, plans go right out the window." Raven said

"Right," The boy, Antonio, said "Still couldn't hurt to at least have some sort of strategy."

"Sneak in, grab Reyna, break big ass glowing coffin, and hop out that bitch." Eli said

"Ahhh so elegant." Raven said

The three boys laughed and continued to eat their food. Raven took a drink from his cup and attacked a waffle, while Eli munched absent mindedly on a piece of bacon. The two guards, Sess, Arcadian, and Circe all watched the boys, mesmerized."

"Still wish this was like back in Compton," Eli said "We could just stick a check up on somebody's head and a Opp would take care of it."

"We don't even know whose head to put a check on." Raven said

"We could just put a check on the mountain." Antonio suggested

"As cool as it would be to come up with a whole squad up with us, packing choppers and all that shit, and just drive-by the whole mountain, it ain't gonna happen," Eli said "Think realistically."

"I hate to be _that_ guy, but who says they haven't already killed this Reyna chick yet?" Antonio asked

"Nobody, but it's a risk we've got to take." Eli said

"Umphegheegaps." Raven said with a mouthful of waffles

"Hey nigga spitters are quitters," Eli said "Swallow your damn food."

Raven choked on his waffles and Antonio inhaled his drink and came up coughing. A small smirk came to Eli's face as he watched his brother struggle to choke down his food. When he finally swallowed it he breathed in steadily while Antonio tried to stop coughing.

"I said," Raven began, trying to keep a straight face "Unless she escaped."

"Doubtful." Eli said

"Look, let's pay the tab and bail," Raven said "Grab Ladon and haul ass to San Francisco."

The image faded as Circe closed her hand and smiled up at me evilly. I stared back but I knew there was fear in my eyes. They could watch exactly where they were, and that meant they could kill three of them at any time. I didn't want the blood of three different demigods on my hands because they were trying to save me."

"Well dear," Circe said "It does seem that, not only do you not have an army coming to save you. You only have three demigods, one of whom has no combat training whatsoever."

"Don't underestimate the sons of Artemis and Diana," I warned her "Raven has fought Tartarus himself."

"A noble feat I'm sure, but Tartarus was still weakened and not nearly as powerful as he could've been if he hadn't fought that Titan and the Giant." She countered

"They will find me, and you'll regret this." I threatened

"Yes well they will find you, but it won't exactly be you," Circe said, evil intention dripping from her words "Now Arcadian, why don't you go and take care of our young demigod friends. I'll await your return."

"You want me to go capture them?" Arcadian asked, confused

"No," Circe said thoughtfully "I don't think prisoners will be necessary."

 **Hey guys, gonna cut the chapter right there because I really like to just be _that_ guy. I really don't know why but I seriously just love doing that to people. Anyways guys PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW GUYS I'M BEGGING YOU TO CLICK REVIEW PLEASE I REALLY REALLY WANT TO SEE REVIEWS I LOVE IT WHEN I GET REVIEWS CUZ IT MAKES MY DAY AND I LOVE IT! Give me them big long reviews and all the lol, anyways nah but hit it up. Read and review and God bless ya'll who been coming back since day one I love you guys so much. See ya'll in chapter five tho.**


	5. Chapter 5: Spoils of war

**Hey guys, welcome back. Been a long weekend, long week, started school again. Sophomore year sucks soooo bad guys. I have this one class where we literally just take notes bell to bell. Nothing else, like no lecture no teaching about shit just bell to bell notes. It's sucks soo soo soooooo bad I really hate it. But that's really all my problem is with it. You know what sucks about it though is like you don't get to take gym after freshman year you only get weightlifting class. Also I need a prom date ya'll. For real. Anyways, ya'll don't give a fuck about my problems. So I don't own PJO and HOO and all that. So where were we? Oh yeah, Raven, Eli, and everybody else are really fucked right now. All this going down, block block shootin at yo office. And onto the story.**

Chapter 5: Spoils of war

Raven:

"I'll only be a minute dude." I said, taking the drachma from Eli

"Make it quick, we need to stay on the move." He said

He and Antonio stood guard at the door while I ducked into the warehouse. It had been nearly two hours since we had eaten, and we were in a hurry. Chiron had once told me that the goddess Iris had planted springs all around the world, that only demigods could find, to use for Iris messaging. They were few and far between and the only one confirmed in our area was right here. I approached the fountain and it began to glow.

"Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering." I said, tossing the coin into the fountain

It disappeared into the stream and I glanced back over my shoulder to make sure everything was still good. As long as I didn't hear massive explosions, we're good.

"Amber Adela," I said, turning back to the spring "Wherever she is."

The image formed into a living room. Amber was sitting with a tall man with a beard, and a woman with black hair. I cleared my throat and everybody looked up, startled.

"Raven!" Amber exclaimed

"Hey." I said, giving a small wave

"So this is Raven." The man said, standing up

He eyed me like I could possibly attack them through the Iris message. I felt him scanning my tattoos, my Compton hat, the scar on my eye. I was glad I had tucked away my flag, but it didn't matter. Damn near everything about me right now just screamed Crip.

"Ummm, Amber who is this guy?" I asked, confused

"Raven, this is my father, the person I wanted you to meet," She said "And this is my stepmother."

"Oscar Adela," He said "Amber's father."

"Raven Alistair," I said "Son of Artemis, Amber's boyfriend."

"Well I must say we've heard quite a bit about you." Amber's stepmom said "My name is Grace."

"It's good to meet you, but I'm afraid I'm in a bit of a hurry," I told them "Amber, Jello is on her way to camp, make sure she gets there safely, I won't be back for a bit. Reyna went MIA and Eli, Antonio, and I are on our way to find her."

"Antonio?" She asked, confused

"Sorry, new demigod, believe it or not he's a son of Hestia." I explained

"Raven!" Eli called "Hurry up man!"

"Hold on a minute!" I called back

"Raven, when you get back," Oscar said "I want to meet you face to face, get to know you."

"I can do that," I said "Might be a few days, but I can do it."

Before anybody could respond, a loud bang sounded from outside. I whipped my head towards the noise and listened hard. I didn't hear anything after that, so I didn't pull out my sword. Amber instinctively stood up and drew her knife. Her father and stepmother looked nervous.

"Eli!" I called "Antonio."

I got no answer, and I pulled out my lighter and my gun.

"Eli!" I called again "Antonio!"

"Yeah!" Eli called back

"You good?" I asked him

"Yeah!" He called back "Antonio fell against the boxes!"

"What boxes?" I asked him

"The pile by the door!" Eli called back

"I take it Antonio is a bit clumsy." Grace joked

"There weren't any boxes by the door." I said, flicking my lighter

"Raven?" Amber asked "What are you doing?"

"Hey Eli!" I yelled, suspicious but not sure what about "Come in here! I think I found something!"

I heard heavy footsteps making their way down the hallway. It was a moment or two before I realized that those footsteps were way too heavy to be Eli's. I glanced towards Amber and met her eyes. She was thinking exactly what I was, but I was a moment too late.

"Oh fuck." I said, realization dawning on me

A massive crash came from the wall. A hole appeared and bricks flew everywhere, and a Cyclops came barreling out of it. I slashed my sword through the Iris message, disconnecting it. I would call Amber again later and let her know that I wasn't dead, but for now I had a Cyclops to deal with. He wasn't a normal Cyclops, that much was certain. He was wearing full Roman armor, colored gold. He had two swords, double sided, one side was celestial bronze, the other side was imperial gold. I raised my sword to block it but he collided with me. His blade cut into my side and he sent me flying backwards, losing my gun and my sword in the process.

"Ahh, the famous son of Artemis," The Cyclops said "You've cause quite a bit of trouble haven't you?"

"I'm good at that." I said, straining to push his arm off

He lifted me off the ground and threw me. I slammed into a pile of sheet metal and felt my ribs crack, and coughed up blood. His two massive swords had never even left his hands. I rose to my feet unsteadily, wondering where Antonio and Eli had gone. I blasted a ball of silver light at him but it bounced off of his armor. I dove do the side as he came charging towards me again. He didn't keep running though, he stopped suddenly and turned towards me, his one blue eye narrowed in anger.

"You're quick," He said, straightening up "But you can't run forever."

He made no move to run at me and that's when I realized I was standing right next to my gun. I reached down and grabbed it, pointing it at the Cyclops as I did so.

"Oh let's do try and be civilized about this," He said "How about we introduce ourselves? I am Arcadian, king Cyclops."

"Wish I could say I'd heard of you." I said, not lowering my gun

"Oh I stayed hidden," He said casually "There is quite a price for killing me."

"Oh yeah?" I asked him

"Do not stall me boy," He said "You only postpone your death. Let's entertain the idea that you can defeat me here, you have no idea what awaits you on Mount Othrys. And if you make it past that, you have no idea the pain, suffering, and the loss you will be forced to endure to complete a prophecy that you don't even know."

"Don't know?" I asked, taken off guard "My mother told me the prophecy."

"Oh that is rich," Arcadian laughed "She hasn't told you the whole prophecy boy. If she had, you wouldn't be here."

I wish I could say I didn't believe him. I wish I could say that I stood up for my mother and destroyed him for daring to speak such a lie about her. But the truth was, I didn't doubt what he was saying. Gods, not just my mother, kept things from us all the time. It honestly didn't shock me in the least bit to hear that my mother hadn't told me the full prophecy.

"Nothing to say?" Arcadian asked, mocking me "You know it to be true. You won't live, you'll be destroyed."

"I'll take my chances." I said, narrowing my eyes

I fired a shot at him, not expecting a kill shot. I heard it ricocheted off of his armor, so I blasted a ball of silver light at him. He jumped to the side and ran at me, swords raised high. I dove to the side and fired two more shots. One bounced off of his armor, and the other one made a thunk sound, and Arcadian yelled out in pain.

"AAAARRGGHHHH!" He yelled, turning in anger "A lucky shot boy! Let's see if you can do it again."

He launched one of his massive swords at me and I jumped to the side. It sank into the ground right where I had been standing and stuck. I shot another ball of silver light at him and looked around for my sword. It was standing three feet behind him, and I knew I had to get it. And, of course, right then, my brother decided he wanted to jump in.

"Hey!" A voice yelled "One eye!"

Eli was standing on top of one of the forklifts with his bow drawn. He let the arrow fly and it suck into Arcadian's arm just as he spun around to find the voice. Eli had a giant bruise on his cheek and his shirt was torn, exposing his leather armor, but other than that he looked alright. Arcadian shifted his glance back and forth between us before running at me. Eli blasted a column of silver light at his back and I jumped out of the way, and then made a break for my sword. I fired two more shots over my shoulder as I ran, not even looking to see if Arcadian was coming after me or not.

"Antonio!" Eli yelled

I risked a glance around me and saw Antonio jumping off the top of one of the shelves, right onto Arcadian. I reached down and grabbed my sword off the ground. I turned around and ran back at Arcadian while Eli fired arrows, jumping from shelf to shelf to avoid the boxes that Arcadian was throwing at him. Antonio got thrown off his back and flew across the aisle, right into me. He knocked me off my feet and the two of us landed in a heap on the floor, his knife almost cutting into my leg.

"My bad." He said, pushing himself up

"Man you weigh a ton." I coughed, staggering to my feet

"Eating my vegtables and shit." He said

I didn't have time to respond because Arcadian came running at us. I raised my sword and Antonio chucked his knife like a throwing knife. It sunk right into Arcadian's breastplate but didn't seem to do any damage. I grabbed Antonio's shoulder and pulled him to the side as Arcadian came flying past, swinging his one sword.

"Come on!" I yelled, taking off

He followed me around the corner to where my brother was coming down off of a shelf. We sprinted through the warehouse, hearing Arcadian bellow and destroy stuff behind us. We jumped onto the assembly line and dropped behind it, ducking down.

"We can't take him out with force," Antonio said "So what now?"

"Push a bunch of shit on top of him." I said

"No," Eli said, taking out his Glock "I've got a better idea. Raven, give Antonio your piece."

Eli:

Raven and I slipped behind the forklift, trying to be as quiet as possible. Arcadian was walking around the main floor with both of his swords in his hand, sniffing the air.

"We've got to bring him over to the shelves again." I whispered

"And knock off his helmet," Raven said "You leave that to me."

Without another word, he slipped away into the aisles. I looked back towards Arcadian as Raven started climbing. I rise to my feet and walked out into view, loading another arrow as I moved. I fired it at Arcadian, purposely missing him. He whipped around and smiled at me, with blood lust in his eyes.

"So, this is the spawn of Diana then?" He asked me "You look even weaker than your brother. Tell me, do they even compare the two of you? I bet they favor the Greek better, don't they?

He was trying to bait me, make me angry, attack my brother. I wasn't going to let it happen. I shouldered my bow and gave my signature "You about to get fucked up" grin. I reached up and tapped my red LA hat and got ready.

"SCB for life motherfucker." Was all I said

With that, I took off running back into the shelving area. I knew Arcadian wasn't far behind when things started banging and falling over. I took a sharp right and went back down the aisle on the other side. Arcadian barreled through one of the shelves, busting apart half of it, but not knocking it over.

"What are you running from?" He asked me "Afraid?"

"Nope, just letting you be a dumbass." I grinned

He caught onto what was happening just a bit too late. I caught a glimpse of a Compton snapback as Raven dropped onto his shoulders, snatched his helmet off of his head, and dropped off. He took off running with the helmet, leading him to the supply room in the back of the warehouse. Arcadian hurled a box at me, and with a roar of rage, took off after Raven. I ducked as the box flew over my head. I took off after them and came around the corner just in time to see Raven and Arcadian disappearing around the back. I followed them into the supply room and barely made it in time.

"Yo!" Raven yelled, tossing me the helmet the second I walked into the door

I caught the helmet and took off the opposite direction. Arcadian screamed in rage and came after me instead. I didn't see Antonio on top of the rafters but I knew he was probably in position, waiting for us to come to him. I ran to the side and tossed the helmet as far as I could. It slammed into the ground and I kept running, but I wasn't fast enough. Arcadian caught me from behind and threw me into the wall. I fell to the ground and my vision went blurry. When it came back into focus, Arcadian was bending down to pick up his helmet. Suddenly, Antonio dropped out of nowhere onto his back, pointing both mine and Raven's guns at the back of his head.

"Wha-?" Arcadian said

"I couldn't think of a punchline." Antonio said, pulling the triggers

Two clips were simultaneously emptied into the back of Arcadian's head, and he dissolved almost instantly. Antonio collapsed into a heap, still gripping both of our guns. Raven came up from my side and pulled me to my feet, helping me walk towards Antonio.

"I couldn't think of a punchline?" Raven asked when we had reached him

"Yeah," Antonio said, covered in golden dust "I tried, I couldn't."

"Nigga you stupid sometimes." Raven said, pulling him to his feet

We looked down at the remains of Arcadion. There was nothing except dust, one of my knives, and two swords, both sheathed. We all eyed the swords for a minute, and I nudged it with my foot.

"What are they?" Antonio asked

"Spoils of war," Raven said "Take them."

"Take them?" Antonio asked

"Yeah," I explained "You killed Arcadian, the swords belong to you."

Antonio seemed hesitant at first but he reached down and picked the swords up off the ground. They shrunk down to normal size the second he touched them, and he examined the sheathed for a minute before putting them onto his back. He handed me back my knife, which he had picked up from the dust. Guess he wouldn't need it anymore. I took the knife and stuck it into my belt.

"Suits you." Raven said, admiring the swords

"Yeah well I'm glad they shrunk when I picked them up." He said

We laughed and Antonio took up my other side, helping me walk. I glanced back at the dust and destroyed warehouse and thought about what else we would face on the way to Mount Othrys.

Reyna:

"Well well well," Circe said, closing her fist and making the ball disappear "It would appear your friends are a bit more resourceful than we thought."

I was proud of Eli for what he had done. It was true Roman, maybe a little bit unorthodox but it got the job done. He had executed his unit training perfectly, and what's more, he had done it with two Greeks, one who had never done unit training, and another who had never trained at all. I could tell that Antonio was a warrior, and a good one.

"I warned you Circe," I told her "You underestimate them."

"Oh no," She said "As a matter of fact, I overestimate them. Arcadian was a ploy, a distraction. They'll never make it here in time to stop the ritual, and Arcadian just slowed them down."

"Again," I sighed "Underestimating them."

"Oh hush Reyna," Circe snapped "You know what? I think it's time we tried a little bit of interrogation on you."

"Interrogation?" I asked her

"Yes," Circe said thoughtfully "I think, as long as you're here, we might as well see what you can tell us."

"I won't talk." I told her

"Oh my dear sweet Reyna, yes you will," Circe said with an evil smile "Yes you will."

 **Boom! Giant ending. Warning, there will be a torture scene with Reyna. If you're one of those guys that somehow gets off to that, well it's not gonna be like super vulgar. If you think you might be disturbed by it, I'll do a quick rundown of it at the end of the next chapter. It will be described in detail and it may get really hard to read at times. So I apologize ahead of time if any of you are disturbed, offended, or otherwise emotionally moved by that scene. So drop some reviews guys PLEASE! I'm begging for them. God bless ya'll that been running, so I love you guys. See you in chapter 6.**


	6. Chapter 6: Safe haven

**Hey people. What's happening with ya'll? I been just a little bit busy and all that. I been running and doing all sorts of stuff. I really have no idea what you want from me here, so I don't own PJO or HOO and we are OFF! Oh wait, one more thing. GUYS! FUCKING REVIEW! I SWEAR TO GOD I NEED SOME FUCKING FEEDBACK! REVIEW THE STORY! Sorry for the language.**

Chapter 6: Safe haven

Antonio:

The wind whipped in my face as we flew through the air. The swords felt heavy on my back, but I was getting used to them. Raven sat in front of me drumming his fingers on Ladon's scales, and Eli was in front of him with a huge smile on his face. I liked flying better than walking but I would've rathered not flying.

"Where are we at?" I asked Raven, leaning forward

"I think we just hit Cali!" He called back "Just over eighteen hours to spare!"

"So, why in the hell do we assume that they're gonna wait for two days?" I asked him

"They'll have to prepare a ritual!" He called back "And if they've already done shit, we'll avenge her by destroying everything!"

I shrugged and leaned back, taking in the air. If I closed my eyes, it wasn't so bad. I still would've prefered some other way to get to California, but whatever. I hoped those monsters weren't waiting for us to come back. Eli said he'd been there before, and they probably expected him to return. Maybe the thought he was coming back with an army so they gathered an army and were waiting for us. I doubted it, but my ADHD brain had a really active imagination and liked to throw out impossible possibilities.

"Hey, we need to make an Iris message!" Eli called back

"To who?" Raven asked

"Well, first thing would be your girlfriend!" Eli yelled "And Annabeth told me once that her dad live in San Francisco, maybe we can get some help from him!"

Ladon started to fly lower again and I realized we were landing on top of an apartment building. I looked at the neighborhood below us, wondering if I could identify exactly where we were. I had been to San Francisco twice, and I'd done a lot of sightseeing. I was confident I could figure out exactly where we were by the landscape. But I didn't see anything familiar and I figured Eli must've pulled into a part I had never been in.

"Okay," Eli said, dropping off of Ladon's back as he landed "So we have to find some way to send an Iris message."

"Percy told me a story once," Raven said "If we can find one of those self pump carwashes, we can send one. It'll be horrible signal but we can do it."

"Okay, so how do we find a carwash in this city?" I asked

"Well," Raven said "We get off this roof first."

"Ladon, head out and fly around," Eli said "I'll call whe- ahh fuck it, you know what I'm gonna say."

Ladon took off from the rooftop and vanished in a matter of seconds. I had no idea what he did when we were walking around doing our thing, but he usually stayed hidden. We looked around for a second before locating a fire escape on the side of the building. Raven checked to make sure nobody was standing in the window before he jumped onto the ladder and began going down. Eli and I followed him closely, double checking behind him as we climbed.

"Reminds me of this time we were running from the cops," Eli said as we descended "Ended up in Black Disciple turf, wearing full Blood colors. They saw us and started shooting, so we ran. Ended up on top of a building, and started hopping the gaps until we got to the end. Climbed down the fire escape with bullets flying all around us. Shit was scary as fuck dude."

I still found it a bit hard to believe that Eli was a Blood and Raven was a Crip. They weren't trying to kill eachother, so what did that mean? I figured they had put it aside since they were brothers, but it still made me wonder sometimes.

"One time," Raven said, dropping onto the pavement below us "We were in Blood territory putting Crip tags up, and these four guys rolled up and hopped out. I don't know if they were Bloods but one of the kids I was with shot at them and we ran. A few minutes later we start hearing police sirens and then cops were crawling all over that place. We hid in a dumpster for an hour before the cops cleared off the street and we were able to get out of there."

"You hid in a dumpster?" Eli asked him as the two of us dropped down "I thought you were a savage dude, why didn't you just shoot everybody?"

"Yeah, because that's how you run from cops." Raven said, rolling his eyes

"This one time, me and a bunch of kids from school egged the principal's house," I offered "Next day in school he's in this pissy ass mood, starts calling kids down to the office and asking questions."

"What'd you do?" Raven asked as we started walking

"Well the guy was an asshole so my Dad didn't like him," I explained "Dad was actually the one who gave us the idea. So we just told him we were all at my place, Dad backed us."

"Your Dad sounds like a badass." Eli said

"For real though, next to the stories we just told," Raven laughed "That sounded like, I got on Disney channel's website without my parent's permission."

We all laughed and continued walking. My thoughts started to drift back to home, and what I would normally be doing right now. I would just be waking up, getting ready for school. Probably smoke a cigarette on my way to school. I wished I had one right now. I hadn't had one since the morning Raven and Artemis had got me.

"Hey," Raven said, nudging me "Want one."

He was holding out a pack of Marlboro reds and a lighter. I grinned at him and took the pack.

"Read my motherfucking mind." I told him

I lit the cigarette and handed him the pack back. Eli dropped back with us and blew smoke out. The three of us walked on, keeping the cigarettes low in case a cop drove by. At least, I was. Raven and Eli were walking right by people with the cigarettes. After a little bit, I stopped hiding mine. There really wasn't any consequences for getting seen smoking a cigarette, so I stopped worrying about it.

"Hey, there's a carwash." Eli said, flicking his cigarette

We turned into the carwash and slipped along the side. It was open but there wasn't anybody outside. We walked into the space for the car and looked around for the hose. Raven found it and pulled it out while Eli fished for a quarter.

"Man, we got so many drachmas," He said, digging one out "Barely any quarters."

"Yeah, we broke." Raven shrugged

Eli threw him the quarter and Raven stuck it in the slot. The hose immediately started spraying water and made a small rainbow. Raven signaled to Eli and he pulled out a drachma.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering," He said, throwing the drachma into the stream "Annabeth Chase, Camp Half Blood."

An image began to form and showed two figures sitting on a hill as the sun rose. One was a tall, muscular guy with black hair and green eyes. The other was a girl with blonde hair and grey eyes. They didn't seem to notice us at first, but then Eli cleared his throat.

"Hope we're not interrupting." He said, startling them

"Gods Eli," The girl said "Don't do that."

"Listen, I've only got a few minutes." He said

He launched into an explanation of what we had been up to the last couple of days. The girl didn't seem shocked, as a matter of fact, she looked as if what he told her was perfectly normal. For all I knew, it might be. I was totally cool with doing stuff like this all the time. When he finally finished, the girl and the boy stood there staring at him.

"So you're a son of Hestia?" The boy asked me

"Yeah, the name's Antonio." I told him

"I'm Percy, and this is Annabeth," The boy said, indicating to himself and then the girl "Wish I could say a son of Hestia shocked me, but you kinda followed up _sons_ of Artemis and Diana.

"Listen," Eli told them "We don't have much time. Annabeth, you told me your Dad could help us. Where does he live?"

"About a mile south from Mount Othrys, on thirty fifth street, number is four four seven," Annabeth told him "I'll Iris message him and tell him you're on the way. He'll give you food and a place to sleep."

"Okay," Eli said "Thanks, now Raven needs to tell his girlfriend he's still alive."

"Let me go find her." Annabeth said She hurried off leaving us standing there with Percy. He looked laid back, like he got calls like this everyday. Actually, he probably did. For all I knew, I would get calls like this everyday. I hoped not, it would be weird to be in the shower or something and have one of these calls come through. A few moments later Annabeth returned with another girl. I had to stop and remember to breath for a minute. She was breathtakingly beautiful, with long brown hair, a kind face, deep, brown eyes. She reminded me of an actress I used to have a crush on.

"Eyes off," Eli said, slapping the back of my head "She's for him."

"Right," I said, shaking off my shock "Sorry."

"Raven!" The girl exclaimed "What the hell happened to you guys?"

Raven explained the story of what had happened in the warehouse. Eli and I had been standing guard when we had been suddenly clubbed from behind. I wondered why Arcadian hadn't killed us, but I wasn't complaining. When he finished, the girl glared at him.

"You and I need to talk when you get back," She said "You son of a bitch, you had us all scared to death."

"Amber," Raven said, rolling his eyes "Did you really think some two ton, one eye, dumbass was actually gonna get the better of me?"

"Yes," Amber said "Because the last I saw you, he mowed you over with enough force to knock a train clean off the tracks."

"To be fair," Eli reasoned "He wasn't normal, and he almost did get the better of you."

"You're not helping." Raven muttered

"Listen, just rescue Reyna and then get your ass back here." Amber told him

"Yes mother." Raven said sarcastically

"Don't you- " Amber started, then stopping suddenly "Oh fuck you."

"Hey, let's hurry it up." Eli warned, glancing out the window

"I'll see you when we get back," Raven said "Love you."

"Love you too," Amber said "And Eli, Kayla says get your ass back to camp before she gets bored and finds someone else."

"Tell her she won't ever find someone better than me," Eli laughed "But yeah, tell her we'll be back as soon as we're done here."

Raven slashed his hand through the image and it faded away. We walked out of the car wash and slipped off the property. We got out onto the sidewalk and started walking up the road. Eli was looking at the piece of paper he had written on.

"Man, we need a tourist map." Raven said, looking around

"They should be everywhere." Eli said, also looking around

We spotted a bus bench with a small pocket on the back, full of maps of San Francisco. Eli opened one and sat down on the bench, examining it. I kept an eye out for anybody suspicious. Nobody had looked at us weird and Raven had assured me that my swords wouldn't attract any attention. There was only a few people on the sidewalk and a couple cars going up and down the street. It was really early so I figured most of the people were sleeping.

"Okay, so we're only about a couple miles from Dr. Chase's house." Eli said

"Great," I said "So what? We're walking? Flying?"

"Nope," Raven said, holding up a wad of money "We're taking a taxi."

Raven:

We sat in the back of the cab in silence. I knew we were getting closer and closer to Mount Othrys, but I still felt as though it was a long ways off. I was exhausted since I hadn't slept since we left the hunt, none of us had. Eli and Antonio has bags under their eyes and I imagined I didn't look much better.

"So we get to Dr. Chase's house," Antonio said "Then what?"

"Annabeth said he could give us food and a place to sleep," Eli said "So we roll up, eat, pass out, wake up, head to Mount Othrys and break shit."

"Hey, donde los ninos tiene que ir?" The cabbie asked us

"Aqui abajo se ve bien," I said back "Cuanto le debemos ese?"

"Quince dolares." The cabbie said back

I handed the cabbie his money and we got out of the taxi. He sped off with his money and left us standing on the street. I glanced around and saw that we were on the right block. Eli was looking around trying to find the building Annabeth had told him about.

"Four four four, four four five," Eli counted "Four four six, four four seven, that's the one."

"Sweet, I hope Annabeth already got to them." Antonio said

"Where did you learn to speak spanish?" Eli asked me as we walked up the steps

"Used to have a dude who ran a chop shop," I explained, knocking on the door "Used to start speaking spanish when he got mad. Picked up on it."

The door opened and a young boy stood in the doorway. He looked about eleven or twelve years old. He raised his eyebrows at us like he couldn't figure out why three teenagers had just knocked on their door.

"Can I help you?" He asked me

"Is your Dad here?" Eli asked him

"Yeah, but he's asleep." The kid said

"Your Mom?" I asked

"In the kitchen," He said "Come on in."

We entered the house and glanced around. I felt a small pang as I looked around at the house. There was legos, video games, and other sorts of toys strewn all over the floor. It was a reminder of what life I could've lived, and what it never was. I had grown up with nothing but kids who gangbanged and hustled because they had nothing else, and it was weird for me to see that there was something else in this life.

"Mom," The kid said as we entered the kitchen "Some people are here to see you."

"Oh Bobby," A woman said, exasperated "I told you not to let strangers in the-"

She stopped dead when she saw us, and for a moment I worried that Annabeth hadn't called them yet. But then her face softened and she gave us a motherly smile.

"Oh, you must be Annabeth's friends," She said "Bobby, go wake your father and tell him to come down here."

The boy ran through the living room and up the stairs. We stood in silence and the woman smiled at us again, motioning for us to sit down. I pulled out a chair and fell into it, Eli and Antonio did the same. She smiled and hurried into the kitchen. She came back out a moment later with three plates. All of them had eggs, bacon, and toast on them.

"Here," She said, putting the plates in front of us "Annabeth told us everything, I figured you guys would be hungry, and probably exhausted."

"Yeah," Eli answered "That about sums it up."

"I figured that much," She said "Frederick should be down in a moment."

We took that as an invitation to dig in and the three of us killed the plates in about a minute flat. She brought us each a glass of orange juice and we killed that in about thirty seconds. She grinned at us, amused. She probably wasn't used to having kids in the house that ate like we did.

"Thanks," I told her "It was good."

"Yeah," Antonio said with a small grin "And now it's dead."

"That poor poor pig." Eli said with mock sadness

"Ahhhh, you must be Annabeth's friends," Said a voice from behind "Antonio, Eli, and Robert is it?"

"Raven," I said, turning to see a man coming into the dining room "Son of Artemis."

"Nice to meet you." He said, extending his hand, which I took

"Annabeth said you guys could give us a place to sleep for the next uhhhhh.-" I stopped to think about how long we had

"We'll say fourteen hours." Eli said

"Ohh, of course," Dr. Chase said "Annabeth talked to us earlier, I'm afraid I fell back asleep."

"Frederick," Mrs. Chase scolded "I told you not to go back to bed."

"Hey," Antonio said "I hate to interrupt, but does this seem like something we should be concerned about?"

He was standing at the window with the curtain slightly pulled back. We all approached where he was standing and looked over his shoulder. In the alley below us, six hellhounds were feeding on something. I couldn't tell what it was, but they were ripping it to pieces. It could've been anything from a cat to a chunk of old meat, it was too shredded up to tell.

"Those dogs?" Mrs. Chase asked

"Those aren't dogs." Dr. Chase whispered

"Hellhounds," Eli said "That ain't our problem."

"Yeah, I ain't getting involved in whatever the hell they're into." I agreed

Antonio didn't protest and simply let the curtain fall back into place. We sat back down in our chair and sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments before Dr. Chase cleared his throat.

"Well if you'll come this way," He said "I'll show you to where you'll be sleeping."

We all rose from our chairs and followed him back into another room. It was a circular room, with two couches and a recliner in the corner. I realized it was an office, with a desk, a computer, and several bookshelves. Eli turned on the light and we were able to get a better look around. There were already blankets and pillows on the couches and the chairs.

"Thanks for the place to sleep," Eli said "Think you could wake us up before nightfall?"

"Absolutely," Dr. Chase said "We'll have you awake before the sun goes down."

"Thanks." Eli said

Dr. Chase closed the door and Eli immediately fell into the recliner while Antonio and I took the couches. I looked over at Eli to see that he was already asleep and slowly became aware of how exhausted I was. I pulled the blanket over me and laid my head on the pillow, and then sleep hit me like a ton of bricks.

Eli:

That night I had a dream. I was standing on Mount Othrys, inside a room. I glanced around for a moment before I realized it was a torture room. The crack of a whip and a scream made me suddenly jump. I glanced over to where the sound had came from, and almost threw up in a dream. Reyna was hanging, suspended by her wrists, her Camp Jupiter shirt was gone, and two telkhines stood beside her, one with a whip, the other watching hungrily. Reyna's back looked like it had been clawed by a pissed off hellhound, but she made no sounds.

"So, one more time demigod," The one with the whip hissed "Where is the potion? We know the Romans had it, we know the Romans hid it, and we know you know where it is."

"I won't talk!" Reyna yelled through gritted teeth

The telkhine raised the whip and brought it down on her back, then again, then again, then again, then again, and then one final time before letting it drop to his side. Reyna screamed louder and louder with each strike but she didn't shed a single tear. The other telkhine licked his lips hungrily and then leaned in next to her.

"We will ask you one, final time," He warned her "And if you still refuse to cooperate, we will have no choice but to use...other means."

I had no idea what other means meant, but Reyna shuddered. The telkhines waited for a moment, and when Reyna said nothing, one telkhine walked away. The other struck Reyna again, and she screamed. He dropped the whip and cut Reyna's bonds, letting her fall to the floor.

"Since you won't tell us what we want to know," He said, dragging her to her feet "We'll have to keep going. You'll talk, one way or the other."

Reyna reared her head back and slammed it into his face, causing golden ichor to leak from his nose. He stumbled backwards but before Reyna could try anything else, the other telkhine clubbed her in the back of the head, and she fell forward, unconscious.

"Stupid demigod." He said, dragging her to her feet and throwing her onto the table behind them

I was suddenly ripped from the dream when somebody started shaking me. I shot up, startled, and saw Mrs. Chase withdraw from me fast, holding her nose.

"Ah shit, my bad." I told her

"It's fine," She said, taking her hand away "I've been told before to be careful waking a sleeping demigod."

"Dude, you look like you've barely slept." Raven said, standing

"We've got to move fast," I said "Reyna is in serious trouble."

 **And we say goodbye to chapter six. Okay guys so I'm not gonna waste nobody's time, read, and review PLEASE! Later guys, God bless ya.**


	7. Chapter 7: The bonding ritual

**Hey guys how be it. I'm not gonna say much because there isn't a whole lot to say but I love you guys and please read and review I need some feedback. I hate it when people wait till I'm finished and then go I wish youd've done this, mofucka you should've said that earlier. Now it's way too late. But anyways, thanks for all the support I've gotten, I don't own PJO or HOO and we're going in it though.**

Chapter 7: The bonding ritual

Raven:

I got out of the shower and pulled on the clothes that Dr. Chase had left out for me, a plain white shirt and some jeans. I heard Antonio getting out of the shower in the bathroom in the hallway, and Eli, who had already showered, talking to Dr. Chase downstairs.

"I can give you guys a ride to the mountain," Dr. Chase said "After that, you'll have to be on your own."

"We have a ride," Eli said "Of sorts."

"Eli," I told him, making my way down the stairs "They're going to be looking for a dragon, they'll know that's what you're coming back on because you've been there before."

"Damn your logic," He muttered "Alright, car it is."

"You wouldn't happen to have that plane that Percy and Annabeth told me about would you?" I joked

"Well yes, but I'm out of celestial bronze." He said sheepishly

Eli and I laughed and I heard the door upstairs open, and Antonio began walking down the stairs, pulling on a black tank top. His swords were leaning up against the wall, and he grabbed them on his way by.

"Ready to go kick some ass?" He asked

"Don't see how it matters whether we're ready or not," Eli said "We're out of time anyways."

"Well, let's hope they haven't killed her or done some sort of ritual by now." I said, tucking my gun into my waistband

"Dear," Dr. Chase called "Where are my keys?"

"In your hand." Mrs. Chase said, shaking her head

Dr. Chase looked a bit embarrassed but shook it off almost instantly. We grabbed our weapons and walked out the door. We got in Dr. Chase's car and he back out of the driveway, and started down the road. Antonio was sitting in the passenger seat, Eli and I in the back. We kept an eye out for anything that might want to kill us, hellhounds, telkhines, dracanae, or another cyclops.

"Hey," Eli said suddenly "Turn this up."

"Why?" Antonio asked, turning the knob

"Another shooting in Los Angeles," A reporter was saying "Two teens dead in a drive by shooting by Crip gang members, today, to talk about the growing problem of teen gang violence, Robert Kinslow."

"Thanks for having me." Another man said

"So what is the reason for teens joining gangs?" The reporter asked

"Well, the answer is very simple," Robert said "Teens join gangs because they're convinced that it's cool. They're taught that it makes you a cooler person."

"So teens join gangs to be cool?" The reporter asked

"Absolutely, and when things like this happen, this is why parents need to take charge of their kids more," Robert said "When teens get killed like this, you can't blame anybody but the parent. Nobody joins gangs for any reason other than to be cool."

"Turn this ignorant cocksucker off," I said angrily "Stupid ass bitch. Don't be saying shit until you've been through the hood and seen the shit that goes down."

Dr. Chase said nothing as we continued to drive down the road, watching traffic pass us by. My thoughts began to drift to Amber, and what awaited of me when I got back home. Amber's Dad wanted to meet me, to talk to me, get to know me. It almost seemed so normal, I didn't quite comprehend it. Even before I realized I was a demigod, nobody wanted to get to know me. If you were a Crip, I was a shooter and I had your back, and if you weren't, don't worry about who I am because you wouldn't live long enough for it to matter. I found myself even thinking about how it might go down, and it was kind of cool until Eli suddenly pulled me from my thoughts.

"Hey, you got any special powers I don't know about yet?" He asked "Now would be a great time to tell me."

"You remember the time I summoned Dad and a bunch of dead soldiers?" I asked him

"Yeah, that's a handy thing to have," Eli said "So how is it done?"

"The two of our energies together should be enough to summon a bunch of dead Crips or Bloods or whatever, and then we might be able to overtake the mountain." I told him

"Wait wait wait," Antonio started "Ahhhh nevermind, fuck it."

"Better to just roll with it." I laughed

"Well, explain how it works when we get there," Eli said "For now, let's just focus on the getting there part."

Dr. Chase made a left turn off of the highway and I saw a mountain beginning to loom in the distance, and I could feel dark energy coming off of it. It was simply radiating dark magic, like an evil waterfall. I couldn't really explain it, but I could just feel it's energy.

"They've started the ritual." Eli said

"How do you know it's a ritual?" I asked "It's Kronos's old lair, of course you feel dark energy."

"No," Eli said "I can't explain it, but they've started some sort of ritual."

"Something to do with Kronos's coffin?" I asked

"Guarantee it." Eli said

"Fantastic," Antonio said "So we're too late?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Eli said as Dr. Chase parked the car "Let's go find out."

We got out of the car and looked around, making sure we weren't followed. I didn't see anything, and apparently neither did the other two. We thanked Dr. Chase and watched him drive away as the sun was beginning to set. It was almost nightfall, and I could already feel a cool breeze.

"Okay, so plan?" Antonio asked

"I've got one," Eli said "Raven and I will do whatever the fuck that summon dead dudes thing is, and then we'll storm the mountain, find Reyna, get out."

"Sounds good," Antonio said "But how about explaining that whole summon dead guys thing, you got ties to Hades or something?"

"No," I said "My mother is the goddess of the hunt, the hunt are her sisters, bonds of loyalty and all that, we can summon our fallen brothers, or anyone with a bond of brotherhood."

"So, doesn't just have to be Bloods or Crips?" Eli asked

"No, but it helps if we just stick to that." I told him

"Okay, how do we do it?" Eli asked

"Call to them." I said simply

I flicked my lighter and held my sword up, and willed my hands to blaze with silver light, and let it envelope my sword. Eli and Antonio watched in amazement as I stabbed it into the ground, and in my head I called out, begging for help.

"Eli," I yelled "Grab my sword, call out to any dead Bloods, ask them for help."

He put his hand on the hilt and we both concentrated. I could almost feel the effort it was taking from Eli, but at the same time, the two of us were lending eachother our strength. Our energies were working together, and helping the other one stay up. It took a few moments but then the ground split, and hands started appearing, lots of them. It was just like last time, not really dead looking but not quite alive, just something about them. At first, I wondered if nobody had answered Eli's call, because I saw only a sea of blue spilling out of the crevice. But then, slowly, red began to file out as well. I saw hundreds of Bloods and hundreds of Crips all milling about as if they didn't know what to do.

"That's creepy and amazing at the same time." Antonio said admiringly

The crevice had begun to close, and that's when things started to go sour. The Crips and Bloods regained their bearings and started to realize the others were there, and in an instant there was shoving, pushing, fistfights, and a couple of gunshots.

"Shit, they're fighting eachother," Eli said "What do we do?"

"Hey!" I tried

Didn't work, didn't think it would but I figured I'd give it a shot. They started yelling even louder and I heard some taunts thrown out by each gang member, and several mortals had stopped and looked around. The park had been empty when we pulled in, but now a few joggers were staring, and Zeus knows what they thought they saw.

"Eli quick," I said, remembering a movie I saw once and getting an idea "Give me your flag."

Eli pulled his red bandanna from his pocket and handed it to me. I pulled mine from my back pocket and lined it up with Eli's, then began tying them together. After I was done I handed Eli back his flag and he grabbed onto it, and we held them up in the air. At first, the fighting didn't stop, and I wondered if maybe it wasn't going to work, but then, gradually, the fighting began to slow down until it had stopped all together. Everybody looked up at me and Eli, standing on a park bench with our flags tied together and held up.

"Ummm," I began "We uhhh need your help."

"Nigga," A familiar voice said from the crowd "I'll help you out, but I ain't fuckin' with no Slobs. Feel me?"

"Who the fuck you calling a Slob, Crab?" An angry voice demanded

"Hold your asses up for one motherfucking minute!" I called

I spotted Free with his gun to a Bloods chest and the Blood with his knife to Free's throat. I realized that our brilliant plan could either keep us alive through this thing, or backfire and end up killing us both. Either way, I had to defuse this situation fast.

"Look," I said "You guys are dead, no point in fighting anymore, we need your help now."

"You know what Eli," A Blood in the front spoke up "I thought you was SCB for life, now I see you hanging around with a fucking Crip?"

"He's my brother Q," Eli said "Shut your ass up, don't think I won't murk yo ass right here cuz."

"Hold up man," I hissed "Defuse the situation, don't make it worse."

"Hey I'm sorry fam," Money spoke up, pushing his way to the front "But you can't run your whole life claiming FJC and then turn around and try and make us work with Bloods, it don't work like that."

"You guys are dead," I said "You have no reason to fight eachother, but we've got a problem that runs a lot deeper than whatever the hell Crips and Bloods are fighting about."

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" One of the Bloods asked snidely

"If we fuck up here," Antonio spoke up "What happens affects both us, and the Underworld."

"Affect us how?" One of the Crips demanded

"We're not sure, but I can tell you for sure that it's not going to be good." I said

"Just put aside your hatred for eachother," Eli pleaded "And help us."

"Man, they're right," One of the Crips said "We're all dead, and most of us are dead because of a Crip or a Blood. Let's put aside our problems, and help."

"It'll be like uniting against the Black Disciples or something." A girl in red said

She was wearing a skinny tank top made of bandanna fabric and colored red, with a red bandanna tied around her head, and a switchblade in her hand. She had a tattoo on her stomach that said Queen Bloodz. I figured she wasn't from Compton, judging by the Detroit area code tattooed on her forearm.

"Exactly," I said "Like uniting against the Black Disciples."

"One time," Eli said, raising his our bandannas even higher "No more Crips and Bloods, no more red and blue, no more fighting eachother."

"He's right," Money said "Come on, let's put all of this bullshit aside."

"I agree," A Blood yelled out "It's time to stop the violence."

With that, they all started yelling again. But this time it was more like a battle cry, like they were ready to get up that mountain and fuck everything up. Eli looked at me with a grin on his face and I knew I had one on mine too. I untied our bandannas and tucked mine back into my pocket, Eli did the same. I let my sword shrink back into a lighter, and stuck it back in the pocket of my jeans.

"Well that almost backfired pretty bad," Eli said, laughing "Now let's get up that mountain, and blast that bitch up."

Eli:

We marched up the mountain and into the garden of the Hesperides. Even before we had gotten through the fog I smelled the trademark scent of the garden, and heard the soft singing of the Hesperides. I thought about yelling for Ladon but I knew now wasn't the time yet. I would wait until we got onto Mount Othrys and then I would call for him. I glanced back at the massive crowd of Bloods and Crips behind me. They had all sorts of assorted weapons, AK-47's, handguns, shotguns, baseball bats, golf clubs, knives, I even saw a few people with a set of brass knuckles on both hands. It was weird to see this many Crips and Bloods together and them not be killing eachother, and some of them still looked a little unsure.

"Keep together!" Raven called

"Back again I see, son of Diana" A familiar voice said "And this time, it looks like ye brought some friends."

The glowing form of Zoe Nightshade appeared in front of us. She had an expression of distaste on her face as she looked around at us all. One of the Bloods whistled at her and she shot him a glare that would've made me run for my life.

"Ah, so this is the son of Artemis?" She asked, eyeing Raven "I must admit, ye don't look like much."

"What were you expecting?" Raven asked

"Well, I thought thou would be taller." Zoe shrugged

Raven rolled his eyes and a couple of people laughed. One of the Crips grabbed Raven around the neck and laughed hard. He was tall and black, with cornrows in his hair, and a tec in his hand.

"We been telling this nigga for years that he need to grow," The kid said "He a little short boy."

"Shut up Free," Raven laughed, pushing the kid away "Bitch ass nigga."

"So are you here to help us Zoe?" I asked

"On the contrary," Zoe said "I'm actually here to stop ye."

"What?" Raven asked, in complete disbelief

"I have foreseen a death, and that death could change the course of this prophecy," Zoe said "But that death could also be prevented if ye abandon Reyna right now."

"Who?" I asked

"I cannot say, the Fates have decreed that this is something thou must discover on ye own," Zoe said "I'm doing this as a favor of Lady Artemis."

"Tell our mother, we're perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves." I said, walking by Zoe

But this time, four more glowing forms appeared in front of us. The other Hesperides stood, blocking our path. For a moment, nobody said anything. We just stared at eachother, glaring angrily at one another, before one of them finally spoke up.

"We are required to warn ye, son of Diana, that thou friend is already doomed," She said "The bonding ritual has begun, and there's nothing ye can do now."

"Turn back," Another said "Turn back, save thyself."

"If we can't save Reyna," I said, narrowing my eyes "Then I'll bring this whole mountain down as a consolation prize."

"Thou don't understand," Another Hesperide said "Weather ye save Reyna or not, Kronos will succeed in returning. We have foreseen it."

"I don't care," I said angrily "Out of my way."

"Eli," Zoe pleaded, moving in front of us again "Ye must turn back, the other section of the prophecy-"

"Other section?" I asked

"I mean-" Zoe scrambled looking for something to say

"What other section?" Raven asked, glowering at Zoe

"Artemis never told thee of the second part of the prophecy?" One of the Hesperides asked

"No, she didn't." I said, anger building

"Care to explain?" Raven asked, his voice completely level

"Ask Lady Artemis," Zoe said "She will tell thee, but heed my warning. Turn back and save thyselves, before the mother buries the son."

"What?" I asked

But Zoe and the other four Hesperides had already vanished again. There was no trace that they had even been there. I wondered if maybe Zoe was giving us a hint to the prophecy, but I couldn't think straight with everybody staring at Raven and I.

"Let's keep going," I said "We'll get Reyna, level the mountain, and bail out, and be home in time for breakfast."

"Sounds good." Raven said, pushing past me

I ran to catch up to him as everybody started marching again. I caught up in a few seconds but he looked angry, angrier than I had ever seen him. I guess he'd been lied to and had the truth hidden from him a few more times than I had, but at least I was keeping a cool head about it. He looked like he might turn around and head straight for Olympus to have a word with our mother.

"Hey," I said, nudging him "Head in the game, we'll worry about this other section of the prophecy bullshit after we deal with the matter at hand."

"I've got my head in the game," He said "I'm just really pissed."

"Well don't lose focus, I don't want to carry your body back to camp." I joked

He gave me a small grin and kept walking. I fell back next to Antonio, who didn't look like he was any better off than Raven. But he looked set and ready for a fight. His eyes were fixed on a point straight ahead of us, and I looked to see what he was looking at. I started to realize that a glowing golden light was keeping us on track. It was shining brightly through the fog, illuminating our path and showing us where to go. After what seemed like hours even though it was only minutes, the fog began to clear up and black rocks began to appear at our feet.

"What is this stuff?" A Crip asked kicking one

"I don't know." I said

Nobody said much as we made our way around the stones, silently. I made sure I didn't knock any stones over or kick anybody as we climbed. All the monsters were in one section in the middle, so I guessed that's where we needed to go. I motioned for everybody to follow me and soon we had made our way on top of a large stone and were able to see into a small, arena like area below us.

"What the hell are they doing to her?" Antonio whispered

I didn't know what he was talking about at first, but then I spotted Reyna. She was on her knees in front of a giant coffin, her eyes glowing pure gold, and a strange looking woman was chanting from a scroll. Reyna was chained at her hands and feet and had four Telkhines with spears pointed at her, but it didn't seem necessary. She was completely subdued.

"It's a ritual alright," Raven said "And it looks like it's working."

Right as he spoke, the coffin began to glow gold too, and a beam shot out of the top and wound it's way around, and into Reyna's mouth. Suddenly she shot up in the air and hung suspended there as the beam snaked it's way into her body.

"Okay, so what the fuck do we do about that shit?" A Blood asked

"We do what we do best," Raven said, pulling out his Ruger "We bust a cap in a motherfucker."

Without another word, he pointed his gun and pulled the trigger. One of the Telkhines jerked suddenly and denigrated into golden powder. The gunshot echoed throughout the mountainside like thunder and all the monsters suddenly turned and looked around to find us.

"Do they not see us?" Antonio asked

"Nope, but they'll see this." I said, pulling my bow

I loaded an arrow and let it fly, right into the neck of a snake woman. She screamed and choked and then vanished. Raven stood up and all the monsters looked at him with awe. He cracked his neck and flicked his lighter, letting his sword come out again.

"Let's go!" He called to everybody behind us

The Crips and Bloods let out a battle cry and surged forward down the piles of rocks and into the unprepared monsters waiting below us.

"Stop them!" The woman yelled "Don't let them interrupt the ritual!"

 **And we stop le chapter right here because reasons. Sorry it's been so long since I updated but I've been a little bit busy. God bless ya'll who waited up and all that shit, read and review please I'm begging ya! I just need a lil bit of feedback, love you guys. I'm gone**


	8. Chapter 8: The second prophecy

**Hey guys how's it going? I am serious right now somebody needs to review. I see you logging in, I see you reading the story, give me some damn feedback for the love of God just tell me how the story is. Because ya'll know there's gonna be that one person that logs on four or five years from now and goes, "I wish you'd do this with the story and this is what I think" Well if somebody had told me that five years ago this wouldn't be a problem. UGH! Sometimes I wonder if you guys read the intro of me begging for a review and you decide to mess with me and just not review but constantly come back so I get tons of reads but 0 reviews. I wish the Percy Jackson community was smaller. My Sister's Grimm story has soooo many reviews because it's a small community and everybody knows everybody. Anyways, I'm gonna get on with the story, God bless ya'll, and here we go! AND PLEASE REVIEW! THANKS!**

Chapter 8: The second prophecy

Antonio:

My instincts took over. I guessed it was just my demigod reflexes, but I fought like a whirlwind. I could see Raven shooting beams of silver light, and I figured I'd stick close to him. It was a full scale battle. All around us, Crips and Bloods worked together, throwing down monsters and stomping on them, or knocking one down with a baseball bat then shooting it with a gun, or just simultaneously stabbing the same monster until it completely disintegrated. I slashed my swords and took down a snake woman. In a few moments, I found myself face to face with the woman who had been overseeing the ritual.

"Ahhh," She said "So you collected the weapons of Arcadian did you? No matter, I'll still kill you either way."

She blasted some sort of spell at me and I dodged it. I had no idea how to fight her, and I wondered if maybe I had picked the wrong fight. Suddenly, Eli came out of nowhere swinging his knives viciously at the witch. She backed up and snarled as Eli bounced at her. I didn't have time to admire how graceful he was during combat before I was attacked by another snake woman. Raven and two Bloods were attempting to reach Reyna and break whatever spell was holding her, but the monsters had rallied around her and were holding position.

"Hey!" Raven called to me as I cut down the snake woman "We have to get through these monsters!"

"Any ideas?" I asked him

"One!" He admitted

Without telling me what it was, he closed his eyes and held his sword in the air with both hands. He began to glow completely silver, he opened his eyes and they were all silver like moonlight. When he spoke, it was as though there were fifty different voices speaking at once.

"RALLY TO ME!" He yelled, or it, or they whatever

The Crips and Bloods made Raven their personal rally point and immediately surged into battle beneath him. I spared a glance around and notice Eli and the witch had made their way away from the battle and were now carrying on a single one on one fight at a safe distance from us. I turned away from them and began fighting again, slashing and hacking at everything that moved. Raven was blasting his way through monsters with power I had never seen him demonstrate before. It seemed the aura prevented the monsters from getting close to him, and gave him more strength then all of them combined.

"Watch out!" A Blood yelled, swinging his baseball bat above my head

He connected with a doglike creature and I heard a sickening crack. He gave a small grin and then ducked away to fight again. There was dead gang members laying all around us, covered in dust, but we outnumbered the monsters three to one. I kicked another monster away and looked up at Raven. He was doing okay for a moment, but then things went bad for him. An arrow struck his straight through the chest and he instantly dropped from the sky, not making a sound all the way down. I fought my way over to him and found him lying at the edge of the cliff, almost falling off. I pulled him away and yelled for somebody to cover us while I got him to safety. When I looked back down at him, my blood ran cold. He was pale, and he wasn't breathing. I looked at the arrow in Raven's chest and realized it was a standard hunt arrow, meaning only one thing. Eli had just shot his own brother out of the sky.

Eli:

"Give up child of Diana," The witch snarled at me "I am Circe, the greatest sorceress that has ever lived. You cannot hope to conquer me!"

"Why Reyna?" I demanded "Why not me, or Raven, or even Antonio? Why someone who had nothing to do with it?"

"Our reasons do not need to be known to you," Circe said "Only that Kronos will soon return to lead us again, and Reyna will be his vessel."

"Over my dead body." I growled

"That's the idea." Circe said

I slashed at her again and she leaned back and tried to throw flames in my face but I ducked and slashed again, this time cutting her cheek. She drew back, wiping the blood on her hand and grinning. She was enjoying this, and that's when I realized we were giving Kronos the one thing he needed. Time. If we didn't act quickly, everything we did would be for nothing.

 _Raven,_ I thought desperately _Get Reyna, quickly_!

 _I'm working on it_! His voice came through my head almost instantly

"You don't have much time son of Diana," Circe said "I'm afraid all is lost."

"All is not lost until the last man is dead." I said, quoting what Justin had drilled into our heads when I started in the legion

I glanced down at the SPQR tattoo on my arm and back at Circe. I was a Roman, a proud warrior of the twelfth legion, and I would not fail in my mission. My mission was to rescue the praetor, and I refused to give in.

"You do not believe me?" Circe asked "Just look for yourself."

I glanced over at the battle. Raven was floating above them, blasting away monsters, and it seemed like the silver aura around him was battling with the golden aura coming out of Reyna. Reyna didn't look much different but I could sense the change. She was losing herself, and beginning to give in to Kronos.

"Yes, you feel the darkness in her heart," Circe said "You know it to be true. Join us Eli, you can save the ones you love. Your mother will be destroyed, but you can serve gloriously under the fallen king. You can give Kayla and your baby the things you never had. Just give in."

"I will never join you!" I spat "I am the son of Diana! I am a centurion of the second cohort! I am a Roman! I do not surrender!"

I shoved my knives into my belt and pulled my bow, loaded an arrow, and fired at Circe all in a matter of second. The shot should've killed her, it would've struck her right in the throat. But she threw her arm up and the arrow deflected and shot off to the side. It sailed through the air, over the battle, and right into my brother's back. It went all the way through, and he stopped for a moment, shocked. Suddenly, he dropped his sword and fell. He plummeted down to the rocks below and rolled with the impact, almost going over the side. I could only stare in horror at Raven. He was surely dead, he had to be. Suddenly, the warning that I had been given in the garden came back to me. Before the mother buries the son.

"Did your mother ever tell you of the second prophecy?" Circe asked

I didn't answer, I knew she was baiting me. I shouldered my bow and drew my knives again. I wouldn't be able to help Raven if I didn't finish off Circe. She narrowed her eyes and glared as I cracked my neck and got ready to attack her. I felt myself growing warm and I looked down, realizing I was surrounded by a silver glow.

"You killed my brother," I said, my voice sounding multiplied "Now Circe, I will kill you."

I attacked with renewed force, striking quickly and making marks whenever I could. I slashed her arm, her leg, her shoulder, anywhere I could reach. She tried casting her spells but I was moving too fast, knocking her hands off balance. I could've killed her several times, but my hunter instinct told me to play with her, show her I was stronger than her, and I held her fate in my hand. I should have killed her right then, but something held me back. I don't know what it was, I'm no stranger to murder. Grant it, I've killed maybe a handful of people in my life, but still, something was holding me back. Finally I kicked her backwards and she hit the rocks hard, glaring at me in defiance.

"Kill me son of Diana," She hissed "Do it."

"I would love to," I said, my voice echoing "But you have something I need first."

Raven:

"Raven." A gentle voice said

It was hazy, and I couldn't place the voice. I had heard it somewhere, but where? Everything was white, and slowly coming into focus. A woman began to take form in front of me. She had blonde hair and grey eyes, Athena. I was standing in a library, surrounded by thousands of old scrolls and books. Athena was reading a scroll with a bunch of symbols on it, I couldn't make them out but it looked like some forgotten language. She put the scroll down, removed her glasses, and stood.

"What is this place?" I asked

"It's the library of the Fates of course," She said, as though it should've been obvious "This is where the Fates record what happens, from our birth to our death. This is the greatest center of knowledge for the gods."

"What happened?" I asked, as everything came back to me "The battle! Reyna! Kronos!"

"Raven, calm yourself." Athena told me

"I- I got shot," I said, remembering "I fell. Am I dead?"

"You are on the verge," Athena said "Eli's arrow missed your heart by about half an inch, you're extremely lucky. But you're losing a lot of blood very quickly. If something isn't done, you will die."

"Eli's arrow?" I asked in confusion "Eli shot me?"

"Circe deflected his arrow," She said dismissively "As I said, you're on the verge, and if that son of Hestia doesn't get to you quickly, I'm afraid you will die."

"How many times have I almost died in the past year?" I grumbled

"Approximately fifty three or so times." She shrugged

"Why am I here?" I asked

Athena didn't answer me. Instead, she took a scroll down from one of the shelves. She placed it on the table and stood back. At first, I wasn't sure what she wanted me to do. But then I realized there was an inscription on the outside of it, Raven Alistair.

"That is your life Raven," Athena said "From the moment you were born, to the moment you will die. Here is your opportunity to read it."

"Read it?" I asked, eyeing the scroll

I picked it up and started to unroll it, but then I stopped. Dad had always said that the greatest mystery of life was never knowing anything. I had always lived by that, even when I hated him. I liked walking through life completely blind, thinking on instinct. I put the scroll back down and looked back at the shelf and saw other names I recognized. Antonio Gilardoni, Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Amber Adela, Kayla Whitaker, Eli Alistair. I noticed Eli's scroll was smaller than mine, a lot smaller than mine.

"I don't want to," I said, pushing the scroll away "I don't want to read the scroll."

"Excellent," Athena said "You have shown more restraint than most mortals could. Your destiny lies within you Raven, not on the scroll. But there is something that you must read, against your mother's knowledge."

"Against my mother's knowledge?" I asked

"Do you remember when Arcadian mentioned the second part of the prophecy?" Athena asked me

"Yeah." I said, remembering what he had said

It still didn't shock me to know that my mother had hidden something from me, yet again. I tried to keep cool about it, but it had been bugging me ever since I heard it. I wanted to know the second part, but at the same time I didn't.

"You must read this scroll Raven," Athena told me "If you are to understand."

She pulled another scroll off the shelf and handed it to me. This one was titled, The prophecy of Moonlight. I opened it slowly, fearing I might tear the paper. It felt brittle under my fingertips, like it would disintegrate at any second. The writing was old, and in some sort of lost language. As I stared at it, the words rearranged themselves into english.

 _Three heroes, born of broken vows_

 _The son of fire, and the sons of moon shall_

 _Face the pit, the army, and the prince of time_

 _And with success, will battle the fallen sky_

 _Brother shall be forced to slay his own brother_

 _And a son will be buried with the tears of his mother_

 _Branded a traitor and cast to the realm of his greatest enemy_

 _An unfair ruling, yet not the true penalty_

 _An old rival will help to battle the fallen king_

 _And slain, at last, he shall be_

 _By an evil blade known as Theosfonias_

 _Akatharsia's twin, called the killer of gods_

I put the scroll down and looked up at Athena. She was watching me intently, waiting for my reaction. She wanted to see what I would do with the knowledge I had just been given. To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure what to do. The prophecy was wrapped up in a riddle, as always. Brother slays his own brother? I couldn't imagine Eli or I killing eachother, not anymore. An old rival? Killer of gods? It was too much for me to take in.

"Did those last two even rhyme?" I asked

"If you pronounced it correctly," Athena said "Then yes, now what do they mean?"

"Theosfonias, Godslayer," I said, the translation coming automatically "And Akatharsia, Impurity."

"Very good," Athena said "Very good indeed."

"But-" I began

"You want to know what it means?" Athena guessed "Sadly, this is an answer nobody but the Fates themselves could give you."

"What do you mean?" I asked her

"This prophecy was made long before the time of the gods, even the time of the titans," Athena explained "Ouranos heard of it, and he searched for the unspoken heroes. But he never found them, and after he was destroyed, Kronos took over and began searching as well. He killed many humans in his search, but he never found them either. When Zeus took power, he and Apollo came up with the theory that it spoke of sons of Artemis, and forced her into an oath."

"But Mom told me that Apollo was the one who gave the prophecy before they went to war with Kronos," I told her "And what about Antonio?"

"Antonio had been thought to be a child of Hephaestus," Athena explained "And your mother told you that because that's what Zeus told her. He didn't want her to know the truth, and none of the other gods know the truth about the prophecy except for Zeus, Apollo, and I."

"Why wasn't Hephaestus forced into an oath?" I asked

"He was," Athena said "But he didn't hold it for long."

"Who is Ouranos?" I asked her

"He was the king of the sky before Zeus, he was betrayed by his son." Athena said "And destroyed."

 _Wait a second,_ I thought _Fallen sky..._

"Ouranos." I said

"Excuse me?" Athena said, a small smile playing on her lips

"Ouranos is the fallen sky," I said, everything clicking into place "They're trying to resurrect Ouranos. He is the fallen sky."

"Excellent Raven!" Athena exclaimed "I knew you could figure it out!"

"I've got to get back!" I said "I've got to warn Eli and Antonio!"

"Our time is short anyways," Athena said "And Antonio has almost closed your wounds."

"Antonio did what?" I asked

But Athena had no time to answer me. Suddenly everything filled with white again and the peaceful sounds of the library disappeared, replaced by the sounds of battle. My eyes shot open and I realized I was lying several hundred feet away from the battle, next to Reyna. She was sitting up but she looked extremely pale, even so she managed a weak smile. Antonio's hands were blazing with fire, and I glanced back and forth between him and Reyna.

"Why are your hands on fire?" I asked him

"I'll explain later, for now I'm glad you're alive." Antonio said

"Yeah, you and me both," I grumbled, pushing myself up "Ahh damn my chest!"

"Easy," Reyna said weakly "You're still healing."

I glanced around, the battle was still raging, but it was clear the monsters were being overrun. I tried to push myself up again but my chest flared and forced me to sit back down. I coughed and gasped which only seemed to make it worse.

"So," I said casually "Turns out I've figured out who the fallen sky is."

 **Kaboom I'm done so where it at ya'll is it anywhere. Drop that review and let's goooooo! Please hit that review, I gotta get me some feedback, for without feedback, I am useless. Love ya, I'm gone bruh.**


	9. Chapter 9: Rise of the forsaken prince

**Hey guys, not a bunch to say so I'm just begging you to review pretty please. I need some feedback, I love reviews and I never get any because erbody is too good to hit the damn button. Like seriously I am Mike Wazousky, DON'T JUST SIT THERE! PUSH THE BUTTON! Okay so I'm just gonna slide on into the story and OMG STEVE CARELL JUST KICKED THAT GIRL WHO WAS SUCKING ON HIS TOES RIGHT IN THE FACE! HOLY GOD SHE'S BLEEDING! WORLDSTAR! I need friends, like for real I need some friends. Anybody wanna be friends? No? Ight then, so hit the review and here we go.**

Chapter 9: Rise of the forsaken prince

Antonio:

I dragged Raven away from the edge of the cliff and leaned him against a rock, then turned my attention back to Reyna. I drew my swords back out and made a break for her, figuring I could break whatever it was quickly. Immediately I got cut off by a snake woman who tried to stab me with her spear. I dodged it and slashed at her with my swords. She slithered back and came forward again, jabbing at me as she did so. I slashed another snake woman as I came forward and blocked her spear. She tried to get me again but this time I got her right on the throat and she disintegrated.

"LADON!" I heard a voice yell

There was a small pause and then a roar tore through the sounds of battle, and Ladon appeared through the fog. Eli hopped off the cliff where he had been fighting the witch and Ladon caught him about halfway down. The witch was no longer in sight and I assumed she had gotten away from Eli, something he didn't look very happy about. More monsters were starting to make their way up the mountainside and I realized we were completely surrounded. Eli flew above me and Ladon torched monsters while Eli shot them with his bow, but they were coming in waves. I jumped onto the stage where the coffin had been placed and kicked a doglike creature away as he tried to stop me. A handful of Bloods came up behind me and started pushing their way through with me.

"Yo!" He yelled, firing a shot into a winged creature "What the hell are those?"

They looked like spiders with legs, and there was hundreds of them. I cut four or five down and one landed in front of me. It was solid black, with bird wings, eight eyes, and six legs. It made me want to throw up. I had never been a fan of spiders, of course, who is? I cut down a hellhound and found myself standing in front of the coffin as the battle raged around me. I raised my sword and brought it down but it just bounced off before even touching the coffin. I tried again, same result.

"Any ideas?" I asked one of the Bloods next to me

In response, he raised his gun and shot the coffin. The shot ricocheted off and flew into the air. He shrugged, indicating that he didn't have anything better than that. I rolled my eyes and glanced around, desperate for an idea. I cut down two more spider things and blocked the blade from another dog creature thing. He looked horrified as I slashed him across the chest and watched him disintegrate. A thought started to form in my head and I wondered if it might actually work. It was a long shot but I figured it was time to just start trying shit off the top of my head.

"Cover me!" I yelled, hopping on top of the coffin

I backed up and took a running jump at where Reyna was suspended in the air. I collided with her and everything seemed to slow down, as if time were standing still. Suddenly, everything shot back to normal and Reyna and I tumbled to the ground. The battle had moved a little bit away so we didn't fall right into hordes of angry monsters, but it still hurt. Reyna groaned and coughed but she didn't wake up. I put her on my shoulders in a fireman's carry and started to move to where Raven was still laid out. A snake woman broke free and attacked me but I cut her down, and her hellhound. The spider things were chasing Eli and Ladon, who were knocking them out of the sky left and right.

"What?" Reyna asked, beginning to stir "Who are you? Put me down!"

"I'm a friend," I said, setting her down next to Raven "Look, he can vouch for me if he doesn't die."

"Quickly!" Reyna exclaimed in alarm "Get that arrow out of him!"

Reyna tried to sit up but she turned almost green and threw up over the side of the cliff. I pulled off my shirt and slowly pried the arrow from Raven's chest. It has gone from his back straight out his front and I was scared I might hurt him even worse, but the arrow slid out easily. Just as I thought he would, he started gushing blood the second the arrow left him. I pushed my shirt against the wound to help stem the blood flow, but he had two wounds.

 _Mom,_ I prayed silently _If I have any special gifts, now would be the time._

Nothing happend so I pressed the shirt harder against his chest, stopping the blood from the front, but there wasn't anything I could do about his back. He muttered something about a fallen king and another section of a prophecy. I wasn't sure what he was talking about but at least I knew he was alive. Reyna had stopped throwing up and was now sitting in silence, trying to think of some way to help. She still had a golden glint to her eyes but they weren't full gold like they were.

"Maybe a bad time for introductions," I said "But I'm Antonio Gilardoni, son of Hestia."

"Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano," She said weakly "Daughter of Bellona."

"Hell of a name." I said, still pressing down on Raven's wounds

He was steadily turning paler and paler, but he was still alive. His breathing was becoming ragged and the battle had moved further down the hill, leaving the arena where the ritual had taken place almost empty. Reyna moved slowly towards and and took a chunk out of her shirt and try and help stop the bleeding on Raven's back. She pushed him onto his side, straining with the effort. I wanted to tell her to just sit back for a minute, but I needed her help, and something told me she was the type not to just sit back and get better.

"He'll bleed out soon if we can't close these wounds." Reyna coughed

 _Mom!_ I thought desperately

Suddenly, my hands blazed with fire. I mean real fire, flowing over my hands like water. Before I could even take my hands way in shock, Raven's wounds slowly started to heal. First the blood stopped and I took my shirt away, then his wounds started to close and soon became just a scar with a bloody hole through his shirt. He groaned again and then his eyes shot open and he inhaled a deep breath. His eyes darted back and forth between me and Reyna before he spoke.

"Why are your hands on fire?" He asked, his voice a little raspy

"I'll explain later, for now I'm glad you're alive." I told him

"Yeah, you and me both," He said, starting to push himself up "Ahh damn my chest."

"Easy," Reyna said, still sounding weak "You're still healing."

He took a quick look around before attempting to sit up again. He grimaced and coughed, letting himself fall to the ground.

"So," He said casually "Turns out I've figured out who the fallen sky is."

"Wait what?" Reyna asked, so shocked she sat up

That turned out to be a bad move because she instantly turned green again and threw up over the side of the mountain once more. Raven sat back and I leaned in so he didn't have to speak too loud. He coughed and spit up a little blood but color was slowly returning to his face.

"Who?" I asked him

"You ever hear of Ouranos?" He asked me

"Used to be the ruler of everything until Kronos killed him," I said "Touched briefly on it in history class, why?"

"Ouranos used to be the king of the sky," Raven said "He's the fallen sky."

As soon as he said it, everything clicked into place. I could've kicked myself for not thinking of it. Then again, Raven and Eli had been here longer than me and they hadn't figured it out. He didn't look like he could talk much more but that's when Reyna came back up from puking.

"Kronos's consciousness must have stayed in the coffin," Reyna said "I haven't tried to kill you yet."

"Feel free to not start now." I said, placing my hands on her

I tried to channel the same energy I had had a moment ago but it had disappeared. I didn't even know how I did it, but I knew that it had healed Raven, whatever it was. He picked himself up, grimacing as he did so. I tried to push him back but he shrugged me off.

"I'll be fine," He said "Reyna, can you fight?"

Reyna stood wobbling slightly. She turned green but did not throw up, great sign. Raven took that as a yes an snatched a sword off the ground and handed it to her. She took it without hesitation and I took that as a sign to draw my own weapons, and without a word, we charged off into the battle raging on the mountainside below us.

Amber:

"Sit Jello." I said "Go on, sit."

Jello sat, panting happily as I threw the stick and she chased after it. I had spent a lot of time with her, as she was the closest thing I had to being near Raven at the moment. I missed him and had kept myself busy volunteering for missions to pick up demigods all around New York. I had a scar on my forearm from a few weeks ago when I got clawed by a hellhound going after a kid who ended up being a daughter of Nemesis. I was only in the infirmary for a few hours, but it still hurt like hell. Being a daughter of Aphrodite, you didn't often get picked to go on missions, but I tried to separate myself from the rest. I often tried to be more like Piper.

"Hey." A voice said from behind

I looked over my shoulder to find Kayla standing behind me. She and I had spent a lot of time together since Raven and Eli had left camp. She had told me about the baby, and that Eli hadn't even told Raven about it.

"Hey," I said "You alright?"

"Yeah," Kayla shrugged "Just thinking."

"About the baby?" I asked

She nodded and bit her lip nervously, as though she was on the verge of telling me something big. Whatever it was never ended up leaving her mouth because Jello ran back up, without the stick, and straight to Kayla. She sniffed and whined at her feet until Kayla began petting her.

"I miss Eli." Kayla admitted

"I miss Raven," I told her "And Eli, but they'll be back in a day or two."

"I know," She said "It's just, I think it's time I told my mother about the baby. And I want Eli to be there with me."

I didn't say anything, because there was nothing to say. I wondered how I would feel if the tables were reversed, and if I was pregnant instead of Kayla. For one thing, my mother would have a fit. For two, my father would also have a fit. But besides that, Raven's mother would probably kill him. I knew Kayla just didn't want to face her mother alone, but also because it might make a better impression if the father was present.

"I'm sure he would want to be there." I assured her

Kayla didn't say anything back, just sat there staring at the night sky. My thoughts started to drift to when Raven returned, and what would happen. My father and stepmother had a mini heart attack after what happened in the warehouse, and I had explained to them he was fine. But still, I couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Raven:

"How come Eli gets the dragon?" I grumbled

I kicked a telkhine off the edge of the cliff and cut another with my sword. We had backed a little further up the hill and were starting to form in a circle as the monsters swarmed around us. When the battle had first started, we had the element of surprise. But now, there were monsters climbing onto the sides of the mountain and making their way to us. I had a strong feeling I knew exactly where the pit below the mountain lead. I could feel his energy, an old enemy seething in rage because the one who had put him in so much pain was so close, and yet he could not reach him.

"Watch out!" Antonio yelled, slashing a hellhound out of the air

I cut down one of the spiders out of the air and blasted a beam of silver light into a telkhine's face. Reyna slashed down four spiders at once but she was still wounded. Antonio hadn't been able to heal her and she didn't look like she would be much good for long. Eli flew over me and Ladon torched a bunch of monsters behind us. I blocked a spear and cut it in half. The snake woman backed up but I pulled out my gun and stuck it to her chin, then pulled the trigger.

"Cold ass savage!" Money yelled, coming next to me

"I'm a killer bro!" I laughed, kicking a hellhound away

Money bashed a snake woman with his baseball bat, making her fall back knocking two more off balance. I slashed another spider out of the air as Eli made another round, and Ladon picked up five or six monsters in each claw and then flew off with them. Antonio backed up next to me, blocking a spear strike. Both of his swords were hooked together and I was reminded of when I was a kid and Dad and I watched the Star Wars marathon on TV. His swords made me think of Darth Maul for some reason. What? Don't give me that look, anybody can like Star Wars.

"Still alive I see!" I yelled to him

"Did you expect me to be dead?" He asked

"Truth be told," I admitted "I wasn't sure if you'd make it!"

"Still plenty of time!" He yelled

"That's dark!" Free yelled, laughing

Antonio swung his swords and took down two telkhines. Eli had landed Ladon right in front of the coffin and was firing his bow from on top of Ladon's back, and Ladon was just shooting flames at everything in sight. Reyna had fallen back into the crowd a little bit so that she could rest up. She had looked a little green so I figured all the movement was starting to take a toll on her, therefore I didn't blame her. Eli hopped down from Ladon's back and made his way over to us, slashing and stabbing monsters as he did so.

"How's it going here?" He asked

"Well, as you can see!" I yelled, gesturing with my sword

Eli laughed and spartan kicked a snake woman back and plunged his knives into a hellhound's neck. Ladon used his tail to swat a bunch of monsters away, but I could still see that they were crawling out of the pit, and we were getting overrun fast.

"Antonio!" I yelled "Cover us while Eli breaks the coffin!"

Without a word, Antonio swung his swords into two hellhounds that jumped at us. I backed up to the coffin with Eli. I knew we had to destroy it, but I wasn't entirely sure how. Eli and I backed up next to it and that's when a massive explosion rocked the mountain.

Eli:

As I backed up to the coffin, I saw a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. I had Circe pinned down but then she had suddenly disappeared. Now, even without fully turning my head, I knew it was her. Before I had time to warn anybody, Circe raised her hand and sent a massive fireball at us. It connected with the ground in about two seconds and shook the entire mountain. I stumbled back and Raven was blown completely away. He slammed into the rocks in front of me and fell unconscious. I heard his skull smack onto the stones, and I knew he was badly hurt. There was a massive crater where about fifteen or so Crips and Bloods had been gathered. They were trying to form up ranks but they were in complete disarray.

"Form up!" I yelled "On me! On me!"

I stepped forward and almost stepped on Antonio, who was laid out, covered in blood. A second look at him almost made me puke, he was even worse off than I thought. He wasn't even moving, and blood soaked him almost entirely. His left arm was entirely gone just below his elbow, and nowhere in sight. His face was badly burned and so was most of his torso. For reasons I didn't entirely understand, he wasn't wearing a shirt. Then again, five minutes ago I was totally certain my brother was dead so I wasn't questioning anything right now.

"Shit!" A Blood next to me yelled "Is he alright?"

"Does he look alright?" I yelled back "Get him moved and cover his arm up!"

Without a word, two Bloods and a Crip grabbed Antonio and started to drag him backwards. I looked around for Circe, but she had disappeared again. I wanted to get angry, but I had other things to worry about. I retreated back by the coffin again, slashing a telkhine down as I did so. I looked at the coffin and was absorbed in it for a moment. It portrayed violent scenes of death, from bombs to natural disasters. It was solid gold and seemed made for somebody who enjoyed bringing misery and pain to others.

 _Eli,_ A metallic voice spoke into my head _Open my coffin Eli, free me. You are doomed no matter what you do."_

 _What do you mean?_ I thought back _Who are you?_

But there was no answer. It must've been Kronos, trying to throw me off, trying to freak me out. I knew I couldn't let him get to me, so I did the only thing that I could think to do. I threw the coffin lid off and let it hit the floor. I never told anybody, not even Raven or Antonio or Kayla or Chiron or even my mother what I saw. It wasn't freaky so much just as something so scary you'll never forget. People had tried to get it out of me a lot of times, but I refused to tell. I felt a sudden chill as I threw open the coffin, and something happened. I felt angry, I felt betrayed, but it didn't last long. I raised my hand and let it blaze to life with silver light, and I stared into the form of the coffin.

 _I'm rid of you forever._ I thought

I brought my hand down and the light hit the coffin, causing another explosion that threw me back. I hit the ground and felt a crack below me. I looked up at the coffin with blurry vision and watched the coffin send off another burst of golden light, causing the cracks to get even bigger. A rock flew through the air, and struck me in the skull, and everything went black.

 **Guys, don't you just hate it when I do things like that? I'm sorry about the ridiculous wait you guys have had to go through, I've had writers block for the past few days but I finally got over it and was able to get up and get this thing done. Anyways, love ya'll, God bless, and I'm out. Read and review PRETTY PLEASE!**


	10. Chapter 10: Gifts and answers

**Not gonna be much of an intro, but guys I seriously need some reviews. I'm about to just start posting links to my story everywhere and getting a bunch of Percabeth crazies to go read it. Anyways, God bless ya'll, his that review, flames and suggestions both accepted and without further ado, we're off.**

Chapter 10: Gifts and answers

Antonio:

"They said something about a potion," A voice tore through my unconsciousness "What was it?"

"How did you -" A voice I recognized as Reyna began

"I had a dream," This time, I could tell it was Eli "I saw them torturing you. They were asking about a potion the Romans had hidden."

I didn't open my eyes, because I was still in pain, especially in my left arm. There was a small awkward pause before Reyna spoke again, and this time her voice sounded broken, like she might lose it at any given moment.

"Several thousand years ago, there was a potion created by one of Gaea's servants," Reyna said "It held the properties to heal any wounds, no matter how severe. It was created to bring back Uranus, but Artemis and Hestia stole it before it could be used, with the failure of the titans and the giants, Uranus became angry."

"That's what his problem with me and Raven and Antonio is?" Eli asked

"Yes," Reyna said "It was hidden, and when the Greeks fell, it was taken by the Romans, and hidden away with the help of Vesta. For all these years, monsters have searched for it desperately to revive their master, but they've never been able to find it."

"Where is it?" Eli asked

Before Reyna could answer, I opened my eyes and sat up. A sudden flash of pain hit me hard, forcing me to shoot up, and cry out it in pain. Eli and Reyna immediately moved next to me. I glanced around at where I was, and took everything in. I was in some sort of infirmary, surrounded by wounded teenagers in purple shirts, and Raven's sleeping form on the bed next to mine. Eli wore a pair of white basketball shorts and purple t shirt that read SPQR on the front in golden letters. Reyna was wearing jeans and a purple shirt, with a purple cloak and her hair pulled into a ponytail.

"You alright man?" Eli asked

"I'm in a ass load of pain, but otherwise I'm good," I said "Where am I?"

"The Camp Jupiter infirmary," Reyna answered "We'll fix your ribs, your head, and your leg. Your arm, however, is an entirely different story."

I looked down at my left arm for the first time and saw what Reyna was talking about. It was severed off completely just below my elbow, and heavily wrapped in bandages. Suddenly, everything came back to me. I was caught in an explosion, a lot of pain, then I blacked out. I remembered being thrown somewhere, and Raven landed somewhere around me.

"How did we get out of there?" I asked "Last thing I remember, everything was going up in flames."

"I destroyed the coffin," Eli said "Reyna got Ladon and got everybody on his back and we got out just in time."

"So, Kronos isn't inside of you?" I asked her

"No," Reyna said "At least I don't think so, I haven't tried to take vengeance on all demigods yet but we'll see."

I looked back down at my arm again, realizing, for the first time, that I was going to have to go through the rest of my life with one and a half arms. I had to fight an entire prophecy with half an arm missing, but that's something I'd worry about later.

"Sorry about your arm," Eli said "I didn't see Circe until it was too late. And on top of that, she escaped."

"It's fine," I said, looking at Reyna "What were you two saying about a potion?"

"Well," Reyna said "The potion is in a place that nobody but the Roman praetors know about. I remember how much time Octavian spent trying to get me to tell him if it was real, most Romans know about it, few believe it's anything more than a legend."

"Wherever it is," Eli said "We have to go get it."

"Eli, I can't tell you where it is." Reyna said

"Reyna the fate of the world is at stake," I reminded her "Let it go just this once."

"No I mean I can't tell you where it is," Reyna said "It was moved in secret years ago, and even the gods weren't told it's location."

"Who was?" Eli asked, clearly frustrated

"There were five sons of Mars who moved it," Reyna said "Only one of them is still alive, he lives in New York, near Olympus."

"Then we'll find him when we get back." Eli said

"Eli wait," Reyna said "Don't you think we tried that? He refuses to tell anyone."

"We have to try," Eli said "If we don't, we might as well hand whatever this thing is over to Uranus."

"I thought Raven said it was Ouranos." I said

"We call him by his Roman name," Reyna explained "Force of habit."

Next to me, Raven made a low moaning sound and shifted a little, but he didn't wake up. He mumbled something I couldn't make out and then groaned again. He was wearing nothing but his jeans and had a bandage wrapped around his head, and his ribs. I realized I was now wearing an old black shirt, they must've put it on while I was passed out.

"He's gonna be alright," Eli said, catching me watching Raven "He's just got some busted bones. Well, most of his bones are shattered but the ambrosia should be taking effect."

"I've been meaning to thank you for saving me," Reyna said "Especially you, Antonio. If you hadn't gotten me down, I would have been consumed."

"Oh you know," I said, giving her a small grin "It's no problem."

"Modest ass motherfucker," Eli laughed "Absolutely zero training and walks in there with his swords fucking everything up."

"It just came so naturally." I admitted

"Yeah, your instincts as a demigod," Reyna said "Dyslexic, ADHD, can't sit still, natural battle reflexes and all."

Suddenly, footsteps sounded from outside the infirmary. A kid appeared in the doorway carrying a package in his arm. It wasn't very big, maybe about the size of a shampoo bottle. Maybe somebody had sent a shampoo bottle for somebody.

"Reyna," He said "A package arrive for an Antonio Gilardoni, is there one here?"

"That would be me." I said, raising my one good arm

He handed the package to me and left the infirmary. The package had a letter with it, addressed to me, with no clue as to who sent it. It wasn't very heavy but it was solid, that much I could tell. I pulled the letter off of it and opened up, and read it.

 _To Antonio Gilardoni_

 _I saw what happened at the mountain, and I decided to help you out. I hope you find this as a suitable replacement, it's the least we can do seeing as the gods tried to execute Raven and left Eli alone, for the most part at least, well I decided to help the son of Hestia. Clearly the three of you aren't going to choose the wrong side, so the least we can do is help the three heroes the prophecy spoke of, and like it or not, you are them. Anyways, best of wishes, I expect the two of us may meet soon, and I'll be watching you, son of Fire._

 _-A friend_

I put the letter down and looked at the package, and my curiosity finally got the best of me. Eli picked up the note and read it while I unwrapped the package. It fell open and I stared in disbelief, as did Eli and Reyna.

"They must've jacked Trinidad James's grill to make that thing." Eli said in awe

What was it? It was an arm. A solid gold arm had rolled out of the package and sat on the bed. It reminded me a bit of Anakin Skywalker's robotic arm, it looked just like it, only gold. On the inside there were little pins that I imagined would stick into my skin to hold the arm in place.

"Who is it from?" Reyna asked

"It doesn't say." I said, picking up the arm

Reyna assisted me in pulling the bandages off of my arm. I had just lost most of my forearm and the robotic arm looked exactly the size my real arm had been. Reyna finished pulling off the bandages and I took a look at it. It had already been sewed shut so it was just a stump now, and I lined up the metal arm, and stuck it on. I felt the pins inside it prick into place as the arm locked itself onto where my arm used to be. I gave it a small tug and it didn't detach or anything, so I figured it was good.

"Well look at that," Eli said "They're gonna help us after all."

"Who?" Reyna asked, taking the letter

"I'm assuming the gods." Eli said as she began reading

Raven groaned again and this time he opened his eyes. He tried to sit up but he cried out and laid back down. Eli rushed to his side and so did Reyna, I couldn't get out of bed but I leaned over as far as I could.

"Shit," He coughed "I don't feel good."

"Your bones are still mending," Eli said, laughing "You pretty much shattered them all."

"My head hurts so fucking bad." He groaned

"Yeah, give it about two hours," Reyna said "You'll be fine by then."

"I hope so," He said weakly "Any chance you could do that flame shit with your hands Antonio?"

"I'm not sure how I did it in the first place." I said

"Holy shit!" He said "What happened to your arm?"

I laughed and told him the story, with Eli and Reyna filling for when I was unconscious. Reyna told him how she got them out of there and how Othrys had been blown to bits and Ladon had flown us away just as it exploded.

"What?" Raven asked in disbelief "Will it stay destroyed? And what about the Hesperides?"

"The mountain will eventually regenerate probably," Reyna said "As for the Hesperides, they're probably fine."

"Probably?" Raven asked

"Well I wasn't really focused on them." Reyna shrugged

"Dude, I need a blunt right now." Raven said

"I got a bag back in the second cohort barracks," Eli told him "But I don't have swishers."

"Do you have anything to smoke out of?" He asked

"No," Eli said sadly "My bowl broke during the battle."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Raven said, coughing "Circe you monster! That innocent bowl, it never did anything!"

We all cracked up laughing and Raven broke down into a fit of coughing, then he started laughing again. I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time, and it felt good.

"If you guys want to make a quick run back to Tennessee," I said through the laughter "I actually have an unopened pack of swishers hidden in my drawer."

This only made us all laugh even harder, except Reyna. She smiled but just shook her head like 'I can't believe these idiots saved my life' but it was still a smile. When we all had recovered from our laughing fits, I stood up and stretched my bones. I almost fell because my legs gave out but Eli caught me and held me up until I was able to stand on my own.

"Alright," Raven said "So when I recover from this, we're going to Olympus."

"Why?" Eli asked

He looked angry, but he started explaining what Athena had shown him

Hestia: Four hours later

"YOU DID WHAT?" Zeus roared across the throne room

"I told him the rest of the prophecy," Athena said "It's time for them to know the truth. It's time for them to understand what they're up against."

"Do you understand what you've done?" Zeus asked

"Father, this is why demigods don't trust us," I said "You expect them to help up and don't even allow us to tell them everything we know."

"You were only to tell them what they needed to know in order to get the job done!" Zeus yelled

"Brother, they were going to find out anyways, it was time for them to know." Poseidon said

"If it was one of your children, you wouldn't send them in unprepared." Artemis said

"Oh please Artemis," Aphrodite said, rolling her eyes "Prepared or not, neither of your sons are skilled enough to defeat Ouranos."

Artemis looked ready to get out of her throne and attack Aphrodite, but she made no moves. I knew Aphrodite was just baiting her, and Artemis knew it, but it wasn't going to stop her if she decided to attack her. I had been quiet for most of the meeting, now I knew it was time to speak up.

"And what about my son?" I asked "What do you think of his skills Aphrodite?"

"Enough!" Zeus said "We are not here to squabble like children, we are here to discuss what to do about Ouranos."

"We cannot beat him alone," Hades said "That much is certain, we'll need these boys. After it's all said and done well, whatever happens happens."

"You will not lay a finger on my sons!" Artemis exclaimed "Be it before, during, or after the prophecy has taken place. After everything they will have to go through in order to win this fight, even the cruelest amongst us must agree they deserve to be left alone to their lives."

Zeus seemed to consider this, and Artemis was right, none of us could disagree with her. The three of them would be facing an enemy we knew nothing about, an enemy that there was no information for except that he had been defeated by Kronos. After all of that, after all that would be done, after all that had been done, they deserved some peace and quiet at the very least.

"I, for one, agree with Artemis believe it or not," Hera said "We are not dealing with Percy Jackson or Jason Grace, all three of these boys won't just roll over and complete quests because we asked it of them, they'll want answers when the time comes for them to be given, they'll want to know everything we know about what they're up against, they'll want to be prepared for anything they might face."

"And let's not forget," Ares said "That Raven kid did save us all last summer, he was all BOOM! And, I've seen the mansion of night, and then KATOW!"

Ares began making motions with his hands to get his point across, something that was unnecessary however seeing as we were all there when it happened. And it was also time for something else, something Artemis had been putting off for a long time, something she needed to tell her sons.

"It's time to tell him about the true origins of his blade," I said "Raven, I mean, it's time for him to know what that blade truly is. It's time for him to know it's name."

This caused all the gods to go silent, because they all knew where the blade had come from, they all knew what it was. The blade had been very temperamental, and even Ares could not wield it. Artemis had once confided in me that she hoped never to have to tell Raven about the true origins of the blade, where she had really gotten it, and who she had gotten it from. I even remembered the day she brought it before the council, claiming it wasn't a normal weapon, we had all laughed then, but we weren't now.

"He's not ready " Artemis began

"Artemis he's almost seventeen," Athena said "You can't keep treating him as though he is a child, he's wielded that blade for almost a year with no real knowledge about it."

"She's right," Hermes said "All three of these boys deserve the truth, about the prophecy, about Raven's sword, about everything."

"Personally I don't care either way," Dionysus said "If they live great, if they die we've got an entire camp full of demigods to take their places. But if one of them is still alive in forty nine years, it'd be nice to have a drinking buddy."

The council took that as Dionysus's way of saying that he agreed that they needed to know, and now Artemis was trapped. She was prepared to reveal some information to her sons, but there were some things we all knew she'd just rather keep under wraps and never speak of.

"Sis," Apollo said gently "You can't keep things like this from them forever."

Before she could answer, a guard rushed in the room, panting. He wasn't wearing his helmet and had various scratches and dents in his armor. Zeus stood, outraged at the interruption to what was supposed to be a very important meeting.

"What is the meaning of this?" He demanded

"My lord," The guard said "Three boys just arrived on a dragon, and they've gone absolutely nuts. The guards tried to stop them and they attacked."

"Stop them!" Zeus demanded

"We're trying," He said "But they're on their way here to the throne room."

Before Zeus could say anything, there was a massive beam of light that hit just outside the throne room, sending chunks of rocks everywhere and a smoke cloud about a hundred feet tall. Two figures flew through the smoke clouds and hit down inside the throne room. They were guards, both still alive but severely wounded, and then three figures emerged from the smoke. More guards rushed the throne room but the three boys were ready for them. Raven blocked one's sword and Eli kicked him back, and Antonio bashed one in the head as he came in. When I caught site of his arm, I nearly fainted. I hadn't been watching him at the battle, so the fact he had lost his arm was news to me until right then.

"STOP!" Artemis yelled "ALL OF YOU!"

Everyone in the throne room froze, even the gods.

"Honestly, do you two even realize how much stress you cause me?" Artemis demanded "Breaking into the throne room, swinging swords like barbarians, can you just think things out before you do them for once in your lives?"

"In all fairness," Raven said, a bit taken aback by his mother's anger "I think you owe us answers."

"And you had to do this to get them?" Artemis asked, waving around "You couldn't just walk in here, or wait until the meeting was over?"

"The guards tried to stop us," Eli shrugged "Put their spears in front of us and shit, kinda pissed us off."

"And look at him!" She yelled, pointing at Antonio "Now you've got him doing it too!"

"Hey, if he wanted to go back to camp that's his choice," Raven said "But he wanted answers too. You owe us so many fucking answers so don't get pissy with me for how I decide to get them."

"Will you please not curse at me?" Artemis exclaimed

"Look," Raven said "There's a time for this argument, and now isn't it. Tell us what we came to ask and we'll leave, then you can yell at Eli and I about how disappointed you are in us later."

"What is it you want to know?" Zeus asked, taking his seat again

"The prophecy, why weren't we told about the other half of it?" Eli asked

"Because," Zeus said "It wasn't time for you to know, we all decided we would only tell the three of you enough to get the job done."

"Oh come on!" Antonio exclaimed "You've got to have a better answer than that."

"It may not be a good answer," Zeus said "But it's the only answer we have."

"Let's just take it," Eli muttered "It's the best we're going to do."

"Are there any other interpretations?" Raven asked "Something the three of us have overlooked so far?"

"No," Zeus said "We haven't been able to find anything out more than you have figured out for yourselves."

It was unlike my father to cooperate, but I knew he was only doing it for Artemis's sake. She bit her lip nervously, knowing that with each question the boys asked, it was getting closer to the time when she would have to reveal a few secrets of her own.

"What about Ouranos?" Antonio asked "Did any of you know about him? About his involvement in this whole thing?"

"We did," Poseidon said "Hestia, Zeus, Athena, Hades, and myself. We kept it to ourselves, hoping we were wrong."

"And you didn't share it after everything started going on because...?" Eli asked

"Like he said," Hades piped up "We hoped we were wrong."

"But we weren't," Athena said "Unfortunately."

"One more question," Eli said "What is Godslayer?"

"And Impurity?" Raven asked "The prophecy mentioned two blades named Godslayer and Impurity, twin blades, what are they?"

"And who do they belong to?" Antonio added

"Godslayer," Zeus said slowly "Is currently unknown to us, we know nothing of this blade."

"Impurity, on the other hand," Hermes said "Well, that's- "

"Wait!" Artemis called out suddenly "Don't, not this way."

"What do you mean?" Raven asked her

"I'll tell you all you wish to know about Impurity," Artemis said "After the meeting. Go back to camp, and I will be along later tonight. We will talk then, and I will explain everything."

"No," Raven said "Now. I'm done waiting, obviously this Impurity blade means something, so what is it?"

"Raven," Artemis pleaded "I swear it on the river Styx, I will tell you when I get to camp, please, this isn't a conversation I want to have in front of everybody." Raven paused for a moment, sensing the anguish in his mother. Finally, he nodded, and turned away, motioning for Eli and Antonio to follow him. Just before the exited the throne room, Raven turned back to look at his mother.

"I'm gonna hold you to that." He said, turning away again

 **Hey guys, soooo sorry about the wait. I know it's ridiculous but I was way super super busy and I've had like major writers block the past few weeks guys I'm so sorry, I'm like super tired as I'm writing this so like, god bless ya'll and pleas read and review, THANK YOU! UNTil NEXT TIME**


	11. Chapter 11: Reunions

**Hey guys, thanks for tuning back in. I'm sorry for the wait but I've but dealing with a lot of shit and I'm just trying to get everything sorted out. But I've just kind of put everything out for a little bit to try and get back to writing. So without further ado, we launch into chapter eleven of Broken Vows.**

Chapter 11: Reunions

Kayla:

"Kayla," A voice whispered "Wake up."

I opened my eyes slowly, wondering who could possibly need me at this hour of the night. I blinked a few times to get my vision into focus, before I was finally able to make out Eli's grinning face.

"Eli?" I asked

"Who else?" He asked "Get up."

"Eli," I grumbled "I'm sleeping."

"We can sleep in my cabin if you're really that tired," He said "Just get up."

I got out of bed and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I hadn't seen Eli and a while and I was excited, but I wished he would've picked a different time to let me know he was here. I reached into the dresser next to my bunk and pulled out some clothes, then turned back to Eli.

"Get out for a minute," I told him "So I can change."

"I've seen you naked before Kayla," Eli said, rolling his eyes but leaving "We had sex, you're pregnant remember?"

I put on the clothes I had taken out and then headed to the bathroom to do other things that females required. I brushed my teeth, my hair, put on a little bit of makeup, made sure I didn't look like a zombie, etcetera. When I was finished I walked outside of the cabin to find Eli sitting on the ground with his back against the cabin. When he saw me, he stood up and dusted himself off.

"Gods," He said "You take forever."

"Shut up and kiss me asshole." I laughed

And he did. He pulled me in close, upon request, and kissed me. I melted into him and lost myself in the moment, wanting it to never end. We broke apart after a few minutes and Eli took my hand and dragged me down the path.

"Where are we going?" I asked him

"An adventure." He said, grinning back at me Knowing Eli, and adventure could mean a million different things. I figured it was probably just better not to even ask and just go with it, and see where he was taking me. When Eli finally stopped, we were down by the lake.

"What are we doing here?" I asked him

Without a word, he pointed at a spot on the beachhead where a picnic basket was laid out with a blanket. I gaped, open mouthed, at the setup. Eli pulled me over to the blanket and sat me down, grinning at how speechless I was.

"How long have you been back?" I asked him

"About ten minutes," He said, grinning "Didn't take me long to throw all of this together, just snuck into the kitchen and jacked a bunch of stuff."

"For a, how my grandmother would put it, no good, rotten, two bit gangbanger," I giggled "You sure can be romantic at times."

"I try." He said, opening the basket

Inside was a whole mess of breakfast foods. Pancakes, sausages, a bottle of orange juice, Eli had literally packed everything that I loved eating.

"Where is Raven?" I asked him, digging out some sausage

"He ran off to get Antonio, the son of Hestia we picked up, registered." Eli said, taking a bite out of a pancake

"Isn't Chiron asleep?" I asked him

"Doubtful," Eli shrugged "He's old, old people wake up early."

"Well apparently you do too," I told him "It's barely four in the morning."

"I haven't slept since I got cracked on the head with a rock." He laughed

"How long ago was that?" I asked

"About the same time Circe blew off Antonio's left arm." He said

"I'm sorry," I said, holding up my hand "What now?"

Eli told the story of what they had been doing while we ate. He told me about when Reyna went missing, and going off to find her, finding Antonio Gilardoni who was a son of Hestia, the witch named Circe who attacked them, fighting off all the monsters, waking up at Camp Jupiter, and so forth.

"You guys stormed the throne room on Olympus?" I asked in disbelief

"Well it was kind of Raven's idea," He said "But yeah.

"I can't believe you," I said, laughing "You're lucky Zeus didn't vaporize you guys."

"I was a bit surprised," Eli admitted "But I'm not complaining or anything."

"Me neither." I said, kissing him

Raven:

"Since they haven't built a Hestia cabin yet, you can crash in the Artemis cabin with me and Eli." I told Antonio as we walked

"I'm down," He said "Like, we ain't sleeping together though, are we?"

"Hell nah," I laughed "What kinda gay ass shit is that?"

"Shit I don't know," Antonio laughed "Maybe you only got one bed."

We walked down the path and came up next to the Artemis cabin, and went inside. Antonio took the bunk beside mine and Eli's. Antonio pulled back the blankets and sat down on the bed, sighing as he sunk into it. I felt the exact same why, like it was just great to be in a bed and not in pain and not worrying about anything for the moment. The feeling didn't last for long, however, because moments later, my mother appeared in the doorway.

"Hi Mom," I said, not even looking up "You here to explain?"

"Yes," She said "I need to talk to you, just you and I alone. There's some things I need to tell you, things I should've told you long ago."

"Oh my gods," I moaned, getting up "What the hell is with ya'll not telling us shit."

Mom and I walked outside, she looked nervous. As she stood there, shifting back and forth, I wondered what was up with her. It was definitely not like my mother to freak out about anything, but this looked like something she was just absolutely freaked about.

"Mom, what's wrong?" I asked her "You look really sketched out about whatever this is."

"Your sword," She said "Take it out."

I pulled out my lighter and flicked it, letting it grow into my sword. My mother held out her hand and I gave it to her, she turned it over and over, admiring the blade. I cleared my throat and my mother handed me back my sword, and then spoke.

"This blade," She said "I wasn't entirely truthful with you and Chiron about it."

"Why does that not surprise me?" I grumbled "What do you mean?"

"It belonged to Ouranos," She said "He wielded this sword during his reign, and when he fell, it was lost. During the war with the Giants, I found it and took it before the council, they didn't take me seriously about the dangers of the blade until Ares took it upon himself to wield it."

"This sword," I asked, holding it up "It was Ouranos's?"

"Yes," She said "When Ares couldn't even wield it, Zeus demanded it be sealed away. When I found out I was pregnant with you and Eli, I recovered the blade and had it turned into that lighter, then left it with Chiron, knowing one of you two would be the one to wield it against Ouranos."

"Why does it feel so, alive?" I asked her "I remember feeling it the first time I picked it up."

"Because of the things Ouranos did with it," Mom said "There are still souls trapped in it's blade. It's name is Akatharsia."

"Impurity." I said, not even thinking about it "This is Impurity, this is the blade the prophecy was talking about?"

The translation came almost automatically. It popped right into my head, I didn't even have to think about it. I turned the blade over, feeling more and more as if it was evil, watching the fused metals glisten in the moonlight. The feeling was even stronger now that I knew this blade had a name, like I knew it on a more personal level. I willed it to turn back into a lighter and stuck it back into my pocket.

"Yes, this is the blade the prophecy spoke of, one of them anyways." Mom said

"Why did you wait so long to tell me?" I asked her

"I had hoped I wouldn't have to," She admitted "But it's your right to know everything I do about the blade you fight with."

"Is there anything else?" I asked her

"No," She said "That's all I know about this blade."

I turned to walk away and my mother pulled me into a hug. I didn't know what else to do except hug her back, so that's what I did. After we broke apart she smiled at me, looking me up and down. I got the sense she was seeing more than just the outside of my body.

"Where is your brother?" She asked

"Down by the beach with Kayla." I told her

"Let's go and find him," She said "It's time I sat down and talked to both of you."

Eli:

It wasn't long before Raven and Artemis joined us on the beach. I heard them before they even got near us, but I waited until they were closer before I said anything to either of them.

"Miss me already?" I asked

'"Totally bro," Raven said, grabbing from behind "I missed my bubby."

I laughed and shoved him off, standing up. Raven had a look in his eye, like he'd just heard some troubling news he didn't quite understand. I knew it was probably whatever Artemis had said she wanted to talk to him about, but I didn't ask.

"Kayla," Artemis said "Would you mind if I borrowed Eli from you."

"No problem," Kayla said "I'm gonna head back to my cabin, I'll see you in the morning."

She headed back up towards the camp, leaving the three of us alone on the beach. My mother sighed as if we were getting ready to have a conversation she wasn't looking forward to.

"Raven," She said "If you want to tell Eli what I told you, it's your decision."

"Tell me what?" I asked

Raven told me about the blade, about the prophecy, and everything Artemis had told him. The longer he went on, the more darkened his face became. Almost like it was just dawning on him what kind of blade he was carrying, and what kind of things it had done.

"Well," I said when he had finished "Shit."

"Yeah, that's about all I had too." He shrugged

"What about my bow?" I asked "And my knives, they didn't come from some ancient evil being did they?"

"No," Artemis laughed "I promise you they're not."

"So," I told Raven "Should we tell her about the potion?"

"Potion?" She asked

Raven and I launched into the story of the son of Mars who had helped hide the potion, and what it was for. Mom nodded as we spoke, not shocked by the majority of the things that we said. In fact, I was beginning to think she already knew everything, until I told her the guy's name.

"Dad and I used to go in there all the time," Raven said "We'll go in the morning, I wonder if the old man is even still alive?"

"Wait," I said "You know the guy?"

"Yeah, name was Robert Davis," Raven said "I wish you had mentioned his name earlier."

"Reyna didn't tell me until we were leaving," I shrugged "So where do we find him exactly? Reyna just said he was in Brooklyn."

"I know exactly where he is," Raven said "He owns a store called Bob's hunting store."

"I remember that place," Artemis said "It's where I met Mark."

"You met Dad there?" I asked

"Yes," Artemis said, looking up at the moon "I used to go in there all the time, it's where your bow came from."

"Oh so there is an interesting story behind it?" I asked, laughing

"No," She laughed "There's nothing interesting about anything to do with you."

"Ohhhhh," Raven said, doubling over with laughter "Shots fired."

"I can't fire back at my own mother." I said, shaking my head

"So like I said," Raven said "We'll go in the morning, talk to him, see what we can dig up." "I must be going," Artemis said "I'll have to get back to the hunters." "I think I'm gonna stay here for a while," Raven said "Not be on the move constantly." "And I'll be here for a few days, then it's back to Camp Jupiter." I told her "Then I guess this is goodbye for a while." She said, pulling us both into a hug The three of us hugged for a few minutes, a bit awkwardly. Affection wasn't something commonly showed between the three of us, very rarely if at all. After we broke apart, my mother put a hand on my cheek and the other on Raven's cheek, examining the two of us.

"I'm so proud of you," She said "The both of you, you've grown up so much since you first arrived. You've changed a lot from the boys who first arrived here, I'm proud to call you two my sons."

And with that, she turned away and began to glow. Raven and I averted our eyes just as she exploded into a supernova. When we turned back, she had vanished. Back to the hunt, or wherever it was she went when she wasn't with the two of us. Without a word, Raven and I started back up the path to our cabin.

 **Kaboom! I got that swag I got that bag I got that juice #don'tknownothinboutit. I have no idea what I'm talking about, thanks for the reads and coming back. God bless all my fans, I love you guys, please read and review, I'm out KATOW!**


	12. Chapter 12: Finding the unfindable

**Hey guys, thanks for tuning back in. This will be the FINAL CHAPTER! I'm so glad to be wrapping up the third book and preparing to move onto the fourth book. We're getting closer and closer to that major cliff hanger I promised you guys would all hate me for. For those of you that are reading this right now, as of October 22, 2015 I am in the process of rewriting the first book in this series so if you've been here since day one, go back and reread the first one because it's gonna be getting changed up. Anyways, God bless ya'll who been riding with me for the haul, I love you guys. Please let's drop some reviews and get this thing popping.**

Chapter 12: Finding the unfindable

Antonio:

"This is the place," Raven said "This is Bob's store."

"It looks like it hasn't seen a lot of business." I said

"Probably hasn't," Raven said "Not a lot of people come in, let me do the talking."

He pushed the door open and the three of us entered the shop. It was quiet and a small bell dinged as the door swung open, and then shut behind us. There were shelves with guns, fishing poles, bows, arrows, bullets, lures, nets, anything you could think of needing for the outdoors. The shop was empty of customers, but an old man sat in a rocking chair behind a small card table with a cash register. At first, I thought he was asleep, but then he spoke up.

"Welcome back Raven," He said "It's been some time hasn't it?"

"About eleven years," Raven said "How've you been?"

"Ahh well I've been about as well as an old man can be," The man said, standing "But let's cut to the reason why you three are here, I assume you're not going on a hunting trip?"

"No," Raven said "We're here for something you helped hide."

"And what would that be exactly?" He asked, hobbling over on his cane

"The potion." Raven told him

The old man's eyes widened for a moment but then returned to normal so quickly I was sure I had imagined it. He smiled kindly and turned away from us, hobbling towards the back of the shop on his old cane.

"Come to the back," He said "Let's talk for a moment my boy."

Eli and I looked at Raven, waiting for his signal. He nodded and the three of us followed the guy to the back room. It was just as empty and dusty as the front of the shop, but there was an old bed and a couch, and a small TV set with an antenna on it.

"Ahhh," He said, sitting down in an old folding chair "So you're here for the potion?"

We explained what was happening and why we needed the potion. He didn't seem surprised by most of the things we said, in fact he seemed like he'd heard most of it. The part about me being a son of Hestia seemed to throw him off for a moment, but he didn't stay that way for long.

"Well well," He said when we had finished "I always knew there was something special about you Raven."

"Bob listen to me," Raven said "We need that potion so that we can hide it, before Circe finds it. I know she's already on it's trail."

"Sadly," Bob said "I cannot help you."

"Look old man," Eli said angrily "Forget all the protecting ancient secrets bullshit for a minute, the fate of the world is at stake here. Give us the fucking potion, now."

"Eli," Raven said "Sit down."

Eli turned his head to Raven, and for a moment, an angry look crossed his face, like he might attack him. Raven sensed it too because his hand immediately went to his pocket, but then the look was gone from Eli's face. A painfully awkward moment passed before Eli sat back down, his face once again emotionless.

"Sorry about that," Raven said "What do you mean you can't help us?"

"I took the potion from it's hiding place in Antarctica many years ago," Bob said "I hid it here in the shop. About fifteen years ago, I moved it from the shop to the Underworld, knowing it would be safer there."

"Wait, why doesn't Hades go get it then?" I asked

"Because," Bob explained "His job is only to protect it, not collect it. I made him swear under an oath not to take it from where I have placed it."

"So where is it?" Eli asked

"It's in the fields of punishment," He said "Across the river of Lethe, through an ancient forest. There's a bridge, goes right across Tartarus, and there's an old gladiator arena, the potion is hidden in a chest there."

"All that to hide a potion?" I asked

"It's a very important item," Bob said "We can't allow Ouranos or his minions to get his hands on it."

"Why hide it and hope they don't find it?" Raven asked "Why not just destroy it?"

"Don't you think we tried that already?" He asked "It can't be destroyed, only consumed."

"So then just drink it," Eli said "Get a papercut or something and drink it so you're healed, and then it's gone."

"Eli, you should know by now it isn't that simple," Bob laughed "This can't be consumed by mortals, only by immortals, it packs enough ambrosia and nectar in it's recipe that it would burn up any mortal being that tried to drink it."

"Of course there's a ton of catches," I muttered "So what now? We go to the Underworld?"

"No," Raven said "Not right away at least, we'll need to plan. This one isn't something we can just charge into, we'll also need permission from Hades to enter the Underworld without his minions attacking us, and that could take a while."

"So what do we do until then?" Eli asked

"Train, chill, be normal for a bit." Raven shrugged

"Sounds like a nice break." Eli said

"I wish you boys the best of luck," Bob said "I hope to see you again soon Raven."

"Maybe," Raven said "If we survive this."

"Your father would be so proud of you two." He said

He held out his hand, and we all shook it. Raven motioned for us to follow him and we left the back room, and then out the front door of the shop, into the cool Manhattan air. Eli called for Ladon, and he was there within moments. The three of us mounted and Eli took off, heading back to Camp Half- Blood.

Raven:

"Don't be nervous babe," Amber said, knocking on her Dad's apartment door "It's not like you've given them a reason to hate you."

"I'm not nervous." I lied

Truth be told, I was extremely nervous. I usually never cared what people, especially people's parents, thought about me. But Amber was somebody I wanted to keep in my life, and her parents not hating me was one way to keep her there. Her mother already didn't like me, so I figured her father and stepmother were people I needed on my side. I had at least tried to dress down from my usual gang colors. I wore a Taylor Gang hoodie, a pair of jeans, and chuck taylors. I tried not sagging my pants but I didn't feel right, it felt weird and uncomfortable, so I just resigned to how I usually wore them. I also left my flag and my hat back at camp, figuring that wouldn't help any case I tried to make. The door opened and Oscar stood inside, smiling at us.

"Well, there you two are," He said "We were beginning to think you weren't coming. Come on in, Grace is almost done with dinner."

"Be easy on him," I heard Amber whisper as we entered "He's nervous."

"I'll try." Oscar whispered back We walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. There was a football game playing on the TV on the stand, there were two couches, three arm chairs, an old oak coffee table, and a lamp in the corner. It was humble living, that's for sure.

"Hope you don't mind the size," Oscar said, catching me staring "We've never been a very rich family."

"Still bigger than where I lived." I shrugged

"So how'd the quest go?" He asked "You gave us quite a scare I'll admit."

"Well, I made it back," I said "Got every bone in my body shattered, buddy lost his arm, brother leveled a mountain, standard quest."

"Sounds interesting." Oscar laughed

"That's one way to describe it. I said

"Oh Raven," Grace said, entering the living room "I thought I heard you in here. Dinner's done, I hope you like chili."

"I'm not really picky." I shrugged, following her into the dining room

They had a round, wooden table with four chairs, and a bowl of chili sat out at each spot. I scanned the dining room automatically, looking for escape routes and way to bail if something decided to happen. There was a fire escape window open, which was good, but if it was blocked there was no other way out except through another room.

"What do you think we'll have to run from?" Amber joked as we sat down

"Just a habit," I told her "I scan every room I go into."

"So umm Raven," Grace said "Tell us about yourself, Amber didn't tell us much about you other than where she met you."

"Well I got to Camp Half- Blood almost a year ago," I said "I'm a son of Artemis obviously, I have a brother who is a son of Diana which is the Roman version of Artemis."

"No no no," Oscar said "Before all of that, where did you grow up, what was your father like?"

I glanced at Amber out of the corner of my eye, wondering if I should make up something. She nodded that it was okay to tell the truth and that wouldn't change her parent's opinion of me. I cleared my throat and launched into my life story.

"I didn't know my Dad much, even before he went to jail he was always working," I said "When I was five he was arrested for murdering my mother, something he didn't do. The guys that arrested him weren't human, they were monsters and they used the mist to get my Dad a life sentence, when I was eight they killed him and made it look like a suicide. I had been put up as a ward of the state so our building manager adopted me and let me live there for a while."

"Wow." Was all Grace could say

"Ohh that's not even the half of it." Amber said

"When I was ten, the manager at our building introduced me to the Flat Junction Crips," I continued "And that's when I started doing jobs for the gang to get money and started paying rent at the apartment. I did a lot of things that I'm not proud of, I sold drugs to kids, robbed stores, I killed people."

I couldn't stop now, even if I wanted to. The words were just pouring out, and nobody was trying to stop me. I started listing off nearly every crime I'd ever committed, every life I'd ever ended. I kept count, exactly nine. Five of which were kids, no older than I was.

"When I was fifteen, we did a drug deal with the Albanian mob family," I said "More coke than Charlie Sheen has ever done in his entire lifetime, and what they paid us went higher than I could even count. But one of them was a rat, everything went wrong and got two of my best friends killed, later found out both of them were unclaimed demigods. I was the only one that got out of there, and I went back to Flat Junction, told the boss the next morning that I was leaving Flat Junction. He gave me one final job, kill the guy who ratted to the cops and blew the entire operation. So I set out, and I found myself at Camp Half Blood, then after our first quest, I heard rumors that Tony was hiding out in Flat Junction, the last place we'd ever look for him. I found him, and then I killed him."

When I stopped, Oscar and Grace were just staring at me. They said nothing, did nothing, just stared at me as though I was a creature from another planet. I started to wonder if they were going to throw me out of the house, forbid Amber to go back to Camp Half- Blood, and never see me again.

"Well I'll be," Oscar said "Son, I respect you for everything you just told us. I respect you for being honest about it all. Does that mean I trust you? Absolutely not. After everything I just heard, you scare me a little bit, but any person who can be that honest with me, for my daughter, you absolutely have my permission to be with her."

"Thanks?" I guessed

Amber took my hand under the table, giving it a squeeze, to let me know it was alright. It calmed me for some reason, made me feel like things were gonna be okay. Grace smiled and we all continued to eat, as though the conversation had never even happened. After dinner, Amber and Grace went into the kitchen to do the dishes, and Oscar brought me into the living room to talk, just the two of us, one on one.

"Let me just start off by saying, at least I know if my daughter is ever in danger, I have no doubt you won't have any qualms about pulling that trigger." He joked

"Well, the last time your daughter was in any real danger I kind of attacked the immortal god of the pit." I said

"Well I really do respect you for being honest about it," He said "Now, be that as it may, it makes me wary of you to know the things you have done. The fact that you're with my daughter, well you get the idea."

"I don't ever intend to do anything to hurt her," I said "I don't want my past to define my future."

"It takes a man to stand there and tell us what you told us," Oscar said "Especially being that I am Amber's father."

"Well there was a moment I thought you were gonna kick me out." I shrugged

"I thought about it," He said "But then my curiosity got the better of me. You see, I wanted to see what the two of you really had together. Amber is only sixteen, what makes her happy now may not be what makes her happy in three or four years, and you need to be able to adapt to what she needs and what she wants. When she needs somebody to protect her and be there for her when she's at her weakest, you've got to be that person, when you're at your weakest and you need somebody to be there for you, she'll return the favor. You guys have to adapt to eachother's needs, that's what love is, changing for eachother, do you understand?"

I nodded, understanding what he was saying. Hearing about me or meeting me briefly through an Iris message wasn't enough, not for him anyways. He wanted to meet me face to face, size me up and see what Amber thought was so great about me before he assumed anything else. He also wanted to be sure that I could change as Amber did, become what she needed when she needed it.

"I'll admit, you're not really the type of guy I always imagined Amber would bring home to us," He said "But now that you're here, I'm glad she held onto you."

"Yeah," I said "Me too."

"So until the day you decide to make it truly official," Oscar said, extending his hand "Welcome to the family."

Eli: Two weeks later

"So what is it you wanted to talk about?" My mother asked me

After an extensive talk, Kayla and I had decided it was time to tell our parents about her being pregnant. She asked me to tell her mother with her, but I was telling mine by myself. So on my way back to Camp Jupiter, I tracked down the hunt and asked to speak with my mother, who had turned into Diana as soon as I landed.

"There's something I have to tell you," I said "And you probably won't like it."

"Which is?" She asked

"Kayla is ummm," I started "Well she's ummm pregnant."

"She's what?" My mother exclaimed

"It was the last night of the battle," I explained "We were drunk and one thing led to another and then we went back to the cabin and then yeah."

"In my cabin?" She yelled

"Yeah, in your cabin," I shrugged "Told you that you wouldn't like it."

She looked angry, and I had figured she would be. Not that Kayla was pregnant but that it had happened inside her cabin, go figure my mother to have all of her priorities straight like that. Oh, my son fucked a girl and got her pregnant? No big deal. Wait, he fucked her in my cabin? Hell no!

"To be honest, I'm surprised you didn't already know," I told her "Being your cabin, basically a shrine, shouldn't you have known that?"

"It doesn't work like that," She said "And don't change the subject, we're talking about your pregnant girlfriend."

"Probably not a good time to mention we kissed within a few hours of meeting," I said "Or the fact that even though there was like a four month time period, technically I knew her less than a week."

"ELI!" She yelled

"What?" I asked "I move fast, sorry."

Don't get me wrong, I understand how stupid it was for me to have Kayla pregnant after the short time we knew eachother, but Dad had asked her to marry him after less than a year together, so you could say that moving fast kind of ran in the family.

"Look, it's not like I'm leaving her because she's pregnant," I said "We just decided that we should say something before she started showing."

"That doesn't mean it's okay to get her pregnant!" She yelled

"So what?" I demanded "You want her to get an abortion? It's not happening!"

"That's not what I'm saying," She said, calming down "It's just how quickly you rushed in."

"Like I said," I told her "We were drunk."

"Then maybe you should stop drinking." She suggested

"Yeah, that might solve the problem." I laughed

"Are you heading to Camp Jupiter?' She asked me, rolling her eyes

"Yeah, and I'll tell Reyna what's going on and see if I can't come back next weekend so I can help Kayla tell her mother." I said

"Stay there for a while," She said "Train, prepare, you'll need it."

"I know," I told her "Mom I don't think I'm ready."

"We're never to face our destinies," She said "You are my son, I know you will do your part."

I knew she was just trying to make me feel better but it didn't help. The fact that the only person who really thought we could do it was our mothers, and everybody else was just kinda like "You have to do this and if you don't we're all going to die" just really doesn't help much of anything. The thing that made me nervous was that we knew everything that would happen, everything they were gonna try and do, but we couldn't do anything but sit around and wait for it to happen.

"What if we fail?" I asked her

"You won't," She said "I have faith in you."

"Mom that's not how it works," I said "Just because you think I can doesn't mean I can."

"Eli," She said soothingly "You need to stay calm, you will overcome him, I know you will."

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath "I'm calm."

"Head back to camp," She said, giving me a hug "We'll talk some other time."

I mounted Ladon and the two of us took off, headed towards Camp Jupiter. I looked down at the hunters as I passed and had a sudden urge to burn their camp to the ground, but it passed so quickly I barely registered it. I hadn't been feeling right since the battle, like maybe I took a really hard hit or something. I didn't know what it was, but it troubled me. As did the line about the mother burying her son, because it could mean any three of us. I hadn't know Antonio for very long, but I'd fought at his side and he was like my brother. I was a Blood and Raven was a Crip, but he _was_ my brother. If any one of us was to die, I don't know what I would do.

 **And, as always, I'm an asshole and leave off on the cliffhanger. So now to thank some people for reviews and follows and all that. So for follows I'd like to thank Rhino12345 and Spartane67, for favorites I'd like to thank Rhino12345 and Francoag89, and for reviews I'd like to thank HispanicThug. Okay guys what in the legitimate fuck happened here? Where's the big ass following of people from the last two stories? Like seriously ya'll let's step it up next time around. I'd like to thank God for everything he's done for me, and I love ya'll who been down with this since day one. Okay so random ass thought, imagine all of the inactive YouTube, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even Fanfiction accounts that aren't active anymore because the person who use to run them died. Like for real, and all the unfinished stories. That's like my biggest fear is that I'll die before I finish my stories. But anyways, thanks for everything guys, keep an eye out for the fourth book I think Imma finish editing Crip Moon before I start the fourth book. I'm waiting for my buddy to finish the photo editing because we're taking an actual photo for this thing. Anyways, I love ya'll and I'm out.**


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